President Ersin Tatar issued a written statement in response to the claims by the Greek Cypriot Leader Nicos Anastasiades over the issue of Guarantees and the claim that Turkey did not want a settlement in Cyprus.

 
President Tatar’s statement is as follows:
 

“Describing the establishment of the 'Republic of Cyprus' as a stepping-stone to the union of Cyprus with Greece (Enosis), the Greek-Greek Cypriot duo undertook action from the first day following the establishment of the Republic to abolish the Treaty of Guarantee and remove the active and effective guarantee of Turkey, which they perceived as an obstacle to achieving Enosis. When these initiatives came to the fore, Motherland Turkey and the Turkish Cypriot people opposed any treaty changes from being made which included any changes being made to the Treaty of Guarantee.  
Since then, the Greek Cypriot side has been demanding the removal of Turkey's guarantees and the removal of Turkish troops from Cyprus. This is an impossible dream. Motherland Turkey and the entire Turkish Cypriot people oppose this. We witnessed the last example of this in 2017 in Crans Montana. 

The necessary response was given to the Leader of the Greek Cypriot Administration, Anastasiades, who put forward the position of demanding "Zero troops and zero guarantees," in Crans Montana. Anastasiades, who tries to distort the facts and events by stating that "Turkey never wanted the guarantees to be lifted", is attempting to hide the intransigence of the Greek Cypriot side and trying to place the burden of responsibility of the deadlock on Turkey and Turkish Cypriot side. This is a futile effort. While Motherland Turkey has declared many times since 1960 that they will not give up their guarantor rights emanating from international treaties; the Greek Cypriot side is trying to portray this as though it is a new development. This is also a futile effort. It is not possible for the Turkish Cypriot people to give up on Turkey's guarantee.  

Our people know and remember very well what happened in the past. If Turkish airplanes had not flown over Lefkoşa when great atrocities were being committed including the 'Bloody Christmas' attacks which had started on December 21, 1963 which was aimed at Enosis, the Turkish Cypriot people would have been massacred and annihilated. If Turkish airplanes had not intervened in the Erenköy Resistance, our mujahideen and the people of the region would have poured into the sea. Without the intervention of Motherland Turkey, the massacre that started in the Geçitkale-Boğaziçi region would have spread to the whole island. If Motherland Turkey had not carried out the July 20, 1974 Peace Operation against the coup d’état carried out by the Greek Junta five days earlier, not a single Turkish person would have remained in Cyprus today, and the island would have become a Hellenic island.

If we live in freedom and enjoy our sovereignty in our own homeland under the roof of our own State, we owe it to the guarantees of Motherland Turkey.  
In his statement, the Leader of the Greek Cypriot Administration Anastasiades, while making false accusations against Motherland Turkey, he claims that 'Turkey has been fuelling conflict in Cyprus since 1956'. This is a completely unfounded claim. It will be of great benefit to remind Anastasiades who founded the EOKA terrorist organisation in 1955 with the aspiration of achieving the union of Cyprus with Greece; who prepared and endorsed the Akritas Plan, the extermination plan of the Turkish Cypriot people in 1962; who carried out the Bloody Christmas attacks and how the partnership Republic of Cyprus was hijacked and turned into a Greek Cypriot state by force of arms. 

Anastasiades is again trying to distort the facts in Cyprus by saying that 'No one should blame the Greek Cypriot side, let's look at the historical process to see who is guilty'. When we look at the historical process, we see that the Turkish Cypriot people were forced out of the state apparatus of the Republic of Cyprus by force of arms, of which they are equal founding partners. The Turkish Cypriot people were massacred. We saw our children murdered in the bathroom in the Kumsal quarter of Lefkoşa and our people being buried alive in the massacre pits in Türkeli and other regions. When we look at history, we remember the Erenköy, Geçitkale-Boğaziçi and other attacks. When we look at history, we remember the massacres in Atlılar, Muratağa, Sandallar and Taşkent.  For these reasons, the entire Turkish Cypriot community is against ending the guarantee of Turkey, the removal of the Turkish army from Cyprus, and returning to pre-1974 conditions. The Greek-Greek Cypriot duo should know this and stop pursuing an unreachable dream.  

My advice to the Leader of the Greek Cypriot Administration is for him to adopt a positive approach to our calls for dialogue, our solution proposal based on the existence of two separate sovereign equal states, which includes a fair, lasting and sustainable agreement in Cyprus and the continuation of the peace which has prevailed since 1974, for the benefit of Cyprus and the region. If he wants to blame someone, he should look at himself.”