President Ersin Tatar attended the 46th anniversary reception commemorating the establishment of the National Unity Party (UBP) which was held at the Elysium in Lefkoşa on Monday evening.


Addressing the reception, President Tatar said that the “UBP is the strongest and most rooted party of the TRNC. The message being given tonight is that the UBP will come to governance by itself.”

“As the President, I have to be impartial, but can a person hide what is in his heart, in his own soul?” the President said.  “I thank the members of UBP for giving me the honour to address you as the fifth President of our country, having initially started my political career as a member of Parliament with the UBP.”


Calling everyone to unity and solidarity at the upcoming UBP Congress, President Tatar said that a strong UBP in power is very important for him to continue his presidency in the best possible way.

Reiterating the importance of having a strong UBP that believes in this in the country whilst fighting together with Turkey to achieve an agreement in Cyprus for the cooperative relationship between two separate States that are in coexistence side-by-side, based on the sovereign equality and equal international status of the two sides,   President Tatar emphasised  that whatever he pledged before the election, he put forward the same stance after he became the President.

“What did we say? We will bring the two States to the table, and this is what we did. What else did we say? We said we will open Maraş after 47 years, we fulfilled this pledge as well," said President Tatar, adding that 250,000 people have visited Maraş so far.

 



“I WANT THE BEST FOR OUR COUNTRY”

Referring to the UBP Congress and the general elections, President Tatar said: "I wish the best for the TRNC and the UBP.”


In reference to his work to further contacts and strengthen ties with Turkey having been invited to various events there, President Tatar added that this is a very important sign of the warmth and love felt by the Turkish nation to the Turkish Cypriots.


President Tatar stated that UBP members are very happy with these visits, but some circles in the TRNC are uncomfortable. "Only members of the UBP and a president who comes from there, albeit an independent one, can establish such relations," the President said.


Referring to the issue of “some TRNC citizens being refused entry into Turkey,” the President added:

“A country has the right to refuse entry to to some people for their own security reasons. There is nothing we can do about it. This depends on the will of the state itself. There are those who slander Turkey, who can call Turkey a colonialist and occupier, who insult Turkey in every way, and who refer to our White House as a brothel. We will never accept these claims.”


President Tatar evaluated the social media posting of the Republican Turkish Party (CTP) Chairman Tufan Erhürman,  where he questioned as to why the President was silent on the matter. The President said it was “heedlessness” of Mr. Erhürman to ask the reason why the President was a spectator on this issue, and evaluated Mr Erhürman's behaviour as “an urge aimed at protecting such people which is contrary to political morality”.


Describing the CTP's statement on the same subject as "incompetent", President Tatar said: “Supposedly, the Republic of Turkey had me elected. It is an insult to us and the UBP for the CTP to misrepresent  that I, the President was elected like that.”

Stating that UBP is the most rooted and largest party that will take the country to the future, President Tatar wished success to all candidates at the UBP Congress.