President Ersin Tatar: “It is my sincere belief that the public conscience and memory will not permit anybody to exploit our core values for their own political gain and that the necessary reaction will be made as in the past”
President Ersin Tatar issued a written statement in reaction to the criticism of People’s Party chairman Kudret Özersay, with regards to the photographs taken during the recent joint visit of the President and the Greek Cypriot leader to the anthropological laboratory of the Committee on Missing Persons (CMP).
Photos
The message reads as follows:
“The reaction of Kudret Özersay, who continues his active political life as the head of the People’s Party (HP) which is not represented in Parliament, to the recent photographs taken at the anthropology laboratory of the Committee on Missing Persons (CMP), has once again shown the importance of the need for politicians to act in a consistent and transparent manner, so as to boost the trust levels of the public towards politicians.
Prof. Özersay in fact did not make any criticism to similar photographs published in the press in previous years that were taken during the visits to the anthropological laboratory of the CMP by Third President Derviş Eroğlu – when he served as his Special Representative, or during the visit of Fourth President Mustafa Akıncı.
Prof. Özersay also did not react to the similar photographs that were taken during the visit to the CMP laboratory of The Elders – namely former US President Jimmy Carter, Archbishop Desmond Tutu who received a Nobel Peace Prize and former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Algeria Lahdar İbrahimi. This undoubtedly casts a doubt with regards to the sincerity of his criticism, which was not made with regards to similar photographs of the previous visits. The photographs we are publishing of the previous visits speak for themselves.
My visit to the CMP anthropological laboratory together with the Greek Cypriot leader Nikos Christodoulides demonstrates our will to address this very important humanitarian issue, that should be insulated from political considerations. Such an approach by Prof. Özersay is certainly not of any benefit to society.
It is my sincere belief that the public conscience and memory will not permit anybody to exploit our core values for their own political gain and that the necessary reaction will be made as has been the case in the past.
It is my wish for those who are involved in politics to focus on common sense and social benefit instead of trying to further their own individual ambitions by politicising humanitarian values."