President Ersin Tatar receives Miroslav Jenča, Assistant Secretary-General for Europe, Central Asia and the Americas, of the United Nations Departments of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and Peace Operations
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President Ersin Tatar has received Miroslav Jenča, Assistant Secretary-General for Europe, Central Asia and the Americas, of the United Nations Departments of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and Peace Operations.
Special Representative and Head of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus Colin Stewart and UN officials were also in attendance for the one-and-a-half hour meeting that was held at the Presidency in Lefkoşa.
Also in attendance were Special Representative of the President, M. Ergün Olgun and members of the negotiating team.
President Tatar spoke about the unprecedented earthquakes that occurred on February 6, 2023 in Türkiye, and the TRNC-based “Champion Angels” volleyball team of schoolchildren, who were in the region for a tournament at the time, who lost their lives along with their teachers and some parents.
President Tatar, who spoke to the press following the meeting, stated that Mr. Jenča was visiting the island to listen to the views and positions of both Sides prior to the UN General Assembly meeting to be held in September in New York and added that the visit by the UN senior official was being held in the aftermath of the recent events that took place in Pile.
President Tatar said: “We discussed the Pile road issue and I explained to Mr. Jenča that the development of the Yiğitler-Pile road is purely for humanitarian reasons and that the Greek Cypriot Side has been violating the Buffer Zone for many years. I told him that they have constructed roads, buildings, a university campus and a shopping mall inside the Buffer Zone as well as near to 300 concrete military firing positions and laid a 12km long barbed wire near the Buffer Zone. The UN has never intervened or physically confronted the Greek Cypriot Side during the construction of any of these.”
President Tatar stated that the UN has an obligation to treat both sides on the basis of equality within the framework of the good offices mission, but that the “position taken by the international organisation towards the Turkish Cypriot Side with regards to the development of the road is unacceptable”.
Stating that it is in everybody’s interests for the Yiğitler-Pile road to be developed, President Tatar stated that he wishes for an agreement to be reached on the matter as soon as possible and for the construction of the road to be finished.
Explaining that he had called the Minister of Foreign Affairs Tahsin Ertuğruloğlu to the Presidency this morning to discuss the Pile road issue, President Tatar stated: “Our Minister of Foreign Affairs has informed me that there is a positive atmosphere in the region and that there are developments with regards to the opening of a new crossing point in the Çayhan Plain [of Pile]."
President Tatar also said that he had expressed concern with regards to the recent “uncivilised and heinous arson attack” on the Köprülü İbrahim Ağa Mosque in Limassol, adding that “these sorts of incidents are unfortunately continuing in South Cyprus and I have called upon the Greek Cypriot Side to catch and prosecute the perpetrators”. He said he had explained to Mr. Jenča that whenever such attacks take place against the mosques, which are of cultural heritage importance, the perpetrators are never caught and they never face justice in South Cyprus for their crime which is in fact against humanity.
Stressing that until a common ground is found, there will be no significant development on the Cyprus issue, President Tatar said: “Until then, good neighbourly relations between the two Sides on the Island of Cyprus, with cooperation on various areas can be enhanced through the work of technical committees and through our cooperation proposals. Progress can be made through the mutual respect of the equality of the two Sides."
President Tatar explained that the Turkish Cypriot Side places importance on cooperation proposals that aim to improve the relations between the two Sides and Motherland Türkiye and Greece.
“I underlined the need to realise the potential, for cooperation between the two Sides, in order to prepare the necessary conditions conducive to a settlement and to further the stability in the region,” President Tatar said, adding that he had talked about the prospects of cooperation in the field of electricity interconnection to Europe via Türkiye which is a feasible project and the sharing of fresh water that is pumped via an 80km undersea pipeline at a rate of 75 million m3 per annum to the TRNC with the Greek Cypriot Side.
President Tatar, in reference to the prospect of a new and formal negotiations process, stated: “There is a need to acknowledge and respect the existence of two separate States, two Sides and two authorities on the island of Cyprus. There are two Peoples – the Turkish Cypriot People and the Greek Cypriot People, who are inherent equals, which includes their sovereign equality and equal international status.”
Answering the questions of the press, President Tatar was asked about his views of news reports in South Cyprus on a 14-item package apparently being prepared by the Greek Cypriot leader Nikos Christodoulides. In response, President Tatar stated that although he has not seen the package that has been speculated in the press at this stage, “if what is being reported is correct, it appears that this package is full of traps. The Greek Cypriot leader is ill-intentioned and not sincere. A one sided package has nothing to do with confidence building or cooperation proposals that needs to be mutually agreed upon on the basis of equality between the two Sides. It seems that there are further efforts by the Greek Cypriot leadership to patch the Turkish Cypriot People onto the Greek Cypriot Administration, which continues to do everything it can to isolate our people, from obstructing direct trade and direct flights, to stopping our clubs from even being able to play in international friendly football games.” President Tatar added that the “package is aimed solely at individuals and has nothing to do with the TRNC”.
“What I am interested in is the sovereign equality and equal international status of the Turkish Cypriot People, which is our inherent right. What concerns us is that the international community respects Turkish Cypriot People and honours the promises to end the unjust inhumane isolation, which is also a violation of our human rights. What I am interested in is that the TRNC is acknowledged and respected as an authority on the island and that our State finds its rightful place in the world,” President Tatar said.
President Tatar also said that he had conveyed to the Greek Cypriot Side via the UN a cooperation proposal to open a crossing point solely for commercial purposes, designed to relieve the long traffic jams at the Metehan crossing point. He said "this would enhance interaction and trade between the two Sides, however the Greek Cypriot Side have not responded positively to this, as they have not to the six cooperation proposals we conveyed via the UN Secretary-General to the Greek Cypriot Leadership in July 2022".
President Tatar said that the Greek Cypriot Side is endeavoring to “show itself as the sole authority and State” to Turkish Cypriots to try to erode their belief in their own State, the TRNC, which continues to be unjustly isolated and unrecognised unlike the Greek Cypriot Side, which usurped the republic in 1963 by force of arms despite being established as a partnership between the Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots on the basis of equality in 1960.
President Tatar added: "The way forward in Cyprus is to have a realistic, practical and sustainable settlement, where the two Sides enjoy good neighbourly relations in a cooperative relationship, where each Side is able to Govern itself under the roof of their own State. Federal based negotiations that have been ongoing for more than half a century have been exhausted due to the mentality that prevails in the Greek Cypriot Side, which sees Cyprus as a Hellenic Island, which has been the main stumbling block to a settlement and is fundamentally against an equality-based partnership. It is time to think outside the box and take a fresh new approach to tackling this issue for future generations, for peace and stability."