President Ersin Tatar addresses Parliamentarians at a reception organised by the “Freedom and Fairness for Northern Cyprus” campaign
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President Ersin Tatar addressed Parliamentarians at a reception held in Westminster where he called for them to support his new two State policy in the island of Cyprus.
The event was organised by the Freedom and Fairness for Northern Cyprus campaign and was attended by Members of Parliament and the House of Lords, academics, think tank groups, lawyers, politicians, diplomats, members of the business community, representatives from various NGO’s and the media.
In his address, President Tatar stated: “It is high time for guarantor UK to adjust her policy in line with the realities on the island of Cyprus. A fresh new approach to the Cyprus issue, that is based on the inherent sovereign equality and equal international status of the Turkish Cypriot People, should be supported by the international community and guarantor UK.”
President Tatar, explaining his vision for a just and sustainable settlement that is based on the cooperative relationship of two equal sovereign States, said: “Negotiations on a federal basis have been exhausted, because of the refusal of the Greek Cypriot Side to share power and prosperity with the Turkish Cypriot People on the basis of equality. Former Greek Cypriot Foreign Minister, late Nicos Rolandis, himself publicly wrote that the Greek Cypriot Side has rejected 15 federal based plans and ideas over many decades.”
“Following years of arduous negotiations and the good faith of the Turkish Cypriot Side, the Greek Cypriots rejected all the settlement plans, most notably the UN Comprehensive Settlement [Annan] Plan in 2004 but acceded to EU membership a week later. They again rejected a settlement in Crans-Montana in 2017, which was the final attempt for settlement on a federal basis.
The President also said that former foreign secretary, Jack Straw, who was in office in 2004, is now in support of the realistic, practical two State settlement in Cyprus.
Stating that the Turkish Cypriot People, who are co-founders and equal partners of the Republic of Cyprus that was established in 1960, the President added: “This partnership lived for a total of three years. Archbishop Makarios stated that they were using this as a springboard to unite Cyprus to Greece. Three years after the establishment of the partnership Republic, the EOKA terrorist group -- which had years earlier killed near to 400 British serviceman during the Cyprus Emergency in the 1950s, and the Greek-Greek Cypriot duo, expelled the Turkish Cypriots by force of arms, from the state apparatus of the republic, because of the aspiration to unite the island of Cyprus with Greece (ENOSIS). Since 1963, the Turkish Cypriot People have been governing themselves effectively as a State.” He said there were acts of genocide committed against Turkish Cypriot People from 1963 to 1974, and that on July 15, 1974, a coup d’état was staged and the ‘Hellenic Republic of Cyprus’ was declared. The President explained that the Republic of Türkiye exercised her obligations as a guarantor power and undertook the Cyprus Peace Operation that brought peace to the island of Cyprus.
The President explained that the Turkish Cypriot People eventually proclaimed the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus in 1983 by exercising their right to self-determination, because of the continued refusal of the Greek Cypriot Side to share the island on the basis of equality.
The President said that the Turkish Cypriot People have inherent sovereign equality rights that need to be reaffirmed, adding that a two State basis is realistic and will provide a just and viable settlement in Cyprus.