President Ersin Tatar meeting with UN Assistant Secretary-General for Europe, Central Asia and Americas in the United Nations Department of Political Affairs, Miroslav Jenča
“Formal negotiations can be started following the reaffirmation of the sovereign equality and equal international status of Turkish Cypriot People. There is currently no common ground between the sides”
President Ersin Tatar received the UN Assistant Secretary-General for Europe, Central Asia and Americas in the United Nations Department of Political Affairs, Miroslav Jenča.
The meeting, which started at 12:00pm at the Office of the Presidency, lasted about an hour.
The UN Secretary General's Special Representative for Cyprus and the UN Peacekeeping Force Head of Mission Colin Stewart and the President's Special Representative M. Ergün Olgun and members of the negotiating team were also present at the meeting.
President Tatar, who spoke to the TAK following the meeting, stated that formal negotiations with regards to the Cyprus issue can be started following the reaffirmation of the sovereign equality and equal international status of the Turkish Cypriot People. The President added that there is currently no common ground between the sides as basis for a settlement.
The President said that an “assessment on the current situation of the Cyprus issue” was made during the meeting. “The Turkish Cypriot Side has taken a fresh approach with regards to how we can tackle the Cyprus issue that is realistic, practical and forward looking,” he said. “We have reiterated the Turkish Cypriot position that a settlement can be reached on the basis of the sovereign equality and equal international status of the two Sides, where two States on the island of Cyprus co-exist side-by-side in a cooperative relationship. Negotiations for an equality-based federal partnership that have been continuing for more than 50-years have been exhausted because of the mentality of the Greek Cypriot Side. The Greek Cypriot Side has rejected 15 settlement plans and ideas over many decades, with the last most remembered being the UN Comprehensive Settlement [Annan] Plan in 2004, and again in Crans-Montana in 2017.”
President Tatar stressed that he placed importance on the need to continue dialogue and added that the “inherent rights” of the Turkish Cypriot People emanated from history as well as the treaties that had established the 1960 partnership republic.
Referring briefly to the recent historical events, President Tatar said: “[Archbishop] Makarios had clearly stated that their objective in signing the 1960 treaties that established the Republic of Cyprus, was just to get rid of Britain, and to use it as a springboard for annexing Cyprus to Greece.
“Then in 1963, the Turkish Cypriot People were expelled with force of arms from the state apparatus of the Republic. The Turkish Cypriot People are as sovereign as the Greek Cypriot People and were forced to govern themselves effectively as a State, which has been continuing since 1963,” the President said.
President Tatar said he explained to the UN official that “prior to Cyprus being granted her independence, the British Prime Minister had stated in British Parliament in the 1950’s that there are two separate sovereign Peoples in Cyprus. . .which can be found in British archives”. He added that the Turkish Cypriot People exercised their right to self-determination and were one of the signatories that founded the partnership republic. He said the Greek Cypriot side were “unjustly” recognised as the sole authority despite being the side that had committed atrocities against the Turkish Cypriot people, who defied international law, and ejected [Turkish Cypriots] from the state apparatus. He said the UN’s Ortega Report documented the magnitude of the attacks and the living conditions of Turkish Cypriots across the island.
"International community needs to addresss the injustice facing Turkish Cypriot People"
The President emphasised it was time for the international community to “stop punishing the Turkish Cypriot People who are victims of the status quo which the Greek Cypriot Side has only sought to perpetuate”. He said the time has come for the isolation and restrictions on Turkish Cypriots to be ended as was promised by many international actors, as included in the report of the former late UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, in 2004.
“You cannot punish Turkish Cypriots for this long. My people have not made a mistake,” the President said.
President Tatar said that he has put forward a new policy and vision with regards to how sustainable peace and stability can be found in Cyprus, which is based on a win-win principle, and based on the cooperative relationship between the two Sides.
“I put forward my new policy at the 5+UN informal meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, in April 2021,” the President said. “This new policy is fully supported by the Republic of Türkiye.” President Tatar added that the two States policy was “further strengthened” by the address of the President of the Republic of Türkiye, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, at the UN General Assembly on September 20, where he invited the international community to formally recognise the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.
“President Erdoğan also called for an end to the persecution of Turkish Cypriots, and for the inhuman isolation preventing our direct trade and direct travel, to be ended. This was a promise by the international community made to us, which has not been honoured,” the President said. “This situation also runs against internationally accepted principles. Turkish Cypriot people have always supported an agreement. This unfairness, this injustice, needs to come to an end. The UN should take steps towards this, and I have today again conveyed this issue to them,” the President said.
The President also said he reiterated that the EU, which had admitted the Greek Cypriot Side into the bloc in the name of the whole island despite the consent of the Turkish Cypriots, is today taking a very biased, one-sided approach on Cyprus.
“Turkish-Greek balance in the region must also be preserved”
President Tatar said he had also conveyed the geopolitical environment in the region, adding: "In order to reach sustainable peace and stability, there is a need to maintain the balance not only between Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots, but also the Turkish-Greek balance as a whole. If, for example, there are attempts to exclude the Republic of Türkiye from the eastern Mediterranean under the influence of the EU and Greece, then it is naturally not possible to reach an agreement in Cyprus,” the President said.
Stating that they are determined to continue the dialogue and cooperation between the two sides, President Tatar said that they continue their cooperation on various issues in technical committees in good faith. Recalling the proposals they submitted through the UN in July, he stated that they wanted to produce solutions in the committees where the authorities of both sides took part in issues such as hydrocarbons, energy and mines.
Deputy Secretary-General Jenča made a brief assessment to the press after the meeting. Stating that they had a frank and sincere meeting with President Tatar, Mr Jenča emphasised their commitment to continue the dialogue. Mr Jenča also said that he believes a solution perspective will be for the benefit and welfare of the Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot Peoples on the island.