The reaction of the Greek Cypriot leadership to Dutch Member of Parliament Liane Den Haan, who recently visited our Minister of Tourism and Environment, is a new manifestation of their outdated mentality. We condemn these statements which have been made by disregarding the diplomatic courtesy rules and the mentality which lies behind them.


The Greek Cypriot leadership has been acting as the sole owner of the island of Cyprus since violently expelling us in 1963 from the partnership Republic of which we, the Turkish Cypriots, were the equal co-founders, depriving us of our legitimate rights and forcing us to live under isolation and restriction.

In order for them to achieve their racist and hegemonic aspirations and to stop the truth from being revealed, the Greek Cypriot side continues its attempts at preventing the international contacts of the Turkish Cypriots with an understanding that is far from the culture of reconciliation and which is contrary to human rights. This situation, regrettably, continues almost on a daily basis.


The last victim of this mentality is Ms Liane Den Haan.  By displaying this mentality, those who cannot tolerate the Turkish Cypriot people even meeting with any foreign official in fact provide the best answer as to why the Cyprus issue has not been settled for more than 50 years.  For the answer, one only needs to look at the mentality prevailing in South Cyprus.

The ‘domination’ understanding of the Greek Cypriot side and the policy of keeping the Turkish Cypriot people in isolation has been spread to all areas of daily life. The Greek Cypriot leadership has continued and continues to make every effort to prevent the Turkish Cypriot youth from participating in any sporting, cultural and social activities.


For these reasons, we, as the Turkish Cypriot side, have put forward our new vision on the basis of the realities of the island, and we say that if a reconciliation is desired in Cyprus, it can only be found through negotiations  between equals, and our sovereign equality and equal international status must be confirmed in order to achieve this balance.

If the interested parties want a solution to the problem, as in this last example, they should put a stop to the hegemonic dominance mentality of the Greek Cypriots that refuses to share in all areas and sees the future of the island of Cyprus as the continuation of its existing structures which the Greek Cypriots themselves have transformed into the Greek Cypriot State.