President Ersin Tatar receives the central Board of Administrators of the TMT Mujahideen Association headed by chairman Celal Bayar
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President Ersin Tatar has stated that the TRNC is becoming more accepted worldwide and has made its mark in history particularly in the past three years.
The President made the statement whilst receiving officials of the Central Administrative Board of the Turkish Resistance Organisation (TMT), headed by chairman Celal Bayar.
President Tatar, who thanked Mr Bayar and the officials of the TMT for their visit and support for his two State settlement position in Cyprus, said: “The reality of the TRNC has, particularly in the last three years, become more accepted in the UN, EU and the world, due to our arduous efforts together with Motherland Türkiye. There is need for this reality, the reality being the existence of our State, to be accepted, which is a message we are conveying.”
Referring to the London and Zurich agreements, President Tatar said:
“The Turkish Cypriot People were equal co-founding partners of the Republic of Cyprus that was established in 1960. This is a fundamental basis which we are putting forward as part of our position. The basis of our position emanates from the parameters from an international agreement. The Turkish Cypriot People are a founding partner, and our People are, at the very least, just as legitimate and sovereign as the Greek Cypriot People. When the Greek Cypriot Side expelled the Turkish Cypriots from the state apparatus of this republic by force of arms in December 1963, we naturally exercised our inherent rights and began work to establish our own State.”
President Tatar stated that negotiations for a federal settlement have been exhausted, because of the refusal of the Greek Cypriot Side to share power and prosperity with the Turkish Cypriot Side on the basis of equality. He said the Greek Cypriot Side have rejected at least 15 settlement plans over the past half-a-century – the last being the most memorable UN Comprehensive Settlement [Annan] Plan of 2004, and in Crans-Montana in July 2017.
“We are therefore saying the time has come to open a new page and to think outside the federal box,” President Tatar said. “Having political equality under a federal roof is not possible, because the Republic of Türkiye is not an EU member state and the objective of the Greek Cypriot Side is to abolish the guarantee of Türkiye and rid the Island from Turkish forces – who are considered by the Turkish Cypriot People as our very lifeline and security,” President Tatar added that under such circumstances, the Greek Cypriot Side will use whatever means it can as well as EU law in order to overtake the north of the Island.
Stressing that the guarantee of Türkiye and the presence of the Turkish forces will continue, President Tatar pointed out that there is a “significant difference between political equality in a federal basis” and the “sovereign equality” that is an inherent right of the Turkish Cypriot People.
Stating that the Turkish Cypriot People had been liberated and gained their freedom in 1974 following many years of atrocities and struggle to co-exist in the face of the aspiration of the Greek-Greek Cypriot duo to unite Cyprus to Greece (ENOSIS), President Tatar said: “The Turkish Cypriot People do not want to return to the pre-1974 conditions. The hegemonic mentality in the Greek Cypriot Side that sees Cyprus as being a Hellenic Island is continuing.”
President Tatar stated that the TRNC will continue to cooperate with Motherland Türkiye to “further strengthen our economic structure”. The President stated that tangible steps are being taken, particularly in energy and electricity.