President Ersin Tatar meets with President of Kyrgyzstan Sadyr Japarov
“We discussed developing bilateral relations between our two countries”
President Ersin Tatar has met with the President of Kyrgyzstan Sadyr Japarov at the Presidency in Bishkek on Monday.
The private meeting between President Tatar and President Japarov continued with the participation of the delegations from the two sides. Evaluating the meeting, President Tatar said that they had discussed the Cyprus issue, the inhumane isolation and injustices faced by the Turkish Cypriot People, the two State policy as a basis for a settlement in the Island of Cyprus, and the work carried out under the Organisation of Turkic States to which the TRNC was accepted as an observer member in November 2022.
President Tatar said: “The meeting passed in a warm and sincere atmosphere, and I express my gratitude to President Japarov for his hospitality and support. We talked about the long-standing struggle of the Turkish Cypriot People to take their rightful place in the world. President Japarov has a good command of the subject and is aware of the issues. We also spoke about the visit of President Japarov to the Island when he was a member of Parliament and the meetings he had held at the time.”
Stating that they had also discussed developing economic and social relations between the TRNC and Kyrgyzstan, President Tatar said: “We discussed the increase of tourism and students between the two countries, which is quite possible because of the convenience of transportation.”
President Tatar stated that the issue of direct flights was also discussed during the meeting, which he said “is my greatest wish”.
“I place great importance to holding meetings with other leaders of the world, to conveying the views of the Turkish Cypriot People and the injustices we are facing, the need to end the inhumane isolation on our country that prevents direct trade and direct flights, despite the promises made by many international actors following the rejection of the UN Comprehensive Settlement [Annan] Plan by the Greek Cypriot Side in the separately held simultaneous referenda in April 2004. Despite the Turkish Cypriots voting in favour of the settlement plan, the Turkish Cypriot Side has been left out in the cold. The Greek Cypriot Side was rewarded EU membership as the whole island, one week after rejecting the plan. The process again failed following more years of negotiation for a federal based settlement that collapsed in Crans-Montana in July 2017.”
President Tatar stated that he had explained to President Japarov that the Greek Cypriot Side is unwilling to share power and prosperity with the Turkish Cypriot Side, and that negotiations spanning more than half-a-century for a federal settlement has been rejected at least 15 times by the Greek Cypriot Side. “Federal based negotiations have been tried, tested and exhausted. The Turkish Cypriot Side have the same equal inherent rights as the Greek Cypriot Side. I explained to President Japarov that a realistic and sustainable settlement can be reached on the basis of two States, co-existing as friendly neighbours that are in a cooperative relationship,” President Tatar said.
Stating that he had met with the President of Azerbaijan, İlham Aliyev in Baku last month, President Tatar said: “The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus is an integral part of the Turkic world, and our country is the southern-most located geostrategic country of Turkic States located in the eastern Mediterranean just 40 miles from Motherland Türkiye.”
President Tatar added that his delegation accompanying him to Kyrgyzstan also included Erhan Arıklı, the Minister of Public Works and Transportation, who previously lived in Kyrgyzstan. The President explained that he had earlier in the morning given a conference at the Kyrgyz-Turkish Manas University, and that he had stated in the speech there that the visit to Kyrgyzstan “is of historical value for us”.
“We place great importance on strengthening our ties across different fields with our ancestral brothers of Kyrgyzstan,” President Tatar said.
Explaining that he had pointed to the benefits of developing relations in the cultural, economic, commercial and tourism sectors that will pave the way to developing relations between the two countries, President Tatar added: “We have conveyed numerous cooperation proposals via the UN to the Greek Cypriot Side, which includes cooperation in water resources and interconnectivity – transporting electricity via a cable that would connect to the EU grid via the Republic of Türkiye.”
"Our visit to Kyrgyzstan has been very successful," President Tatar added, noting that he observed the “excitement in the eyes of people and the love they have for the Turkish Cypriot People, in the meetings and events during our visit here”.
Speaking on the issue of a UN personal envoy, President Tatar said: "The person to be appointed will be a personal envoy, who will have a specific mandate to explore whether common ground exists or not between the two sides."
"We are following this process," President Tatar added. "The Turkish Cypriot Side has always acted with good faith in our dialogue with the United Nations for the past three years." The President said he has always stressed that new and formal negotiations can be started following the reaffirmation of the sovereign equality and equal international status.
President Tatar will continue his contacts today and tomorrow.