President Ersin Tatar meets former Speaker of the Turkish Grand National Assembly Mustafa Şentop and his delegation
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President Ersin Tatar has held a meeting with Mustafa Şentop, former Speaker of the Turkish Grand National Assembly and his delegation.
President Tatar, who welcomed Mr. Şentop and his delegation to the TRNC, said: “We will never forget the closeness of Mr. Şentop to the TRNC and the support he has always given to our country and the Turkish Cypriot cause when he served in office as the Speaker of the Turkish Grand National Assembly.”
Stating that “negotiations as a basis for a settlement in Cyprus under a federal model has been exhausted,” President Tatar said: “The Greek Cypriot Side does not want to share power and prosperity on the basis of equality with the Turkish Cypriot Side, and have a known position of ‘zero-troops, zero-guarantees’ and are demanding an end to the Guarantee of Türkiye and the presence of Turkish forces on the Island. This is something that we will never accept. Under a federal settlement, in the absence of the Guarantee of Türkiye and being an EU member state of which the Republic of Türkiye is not, this would be dangerous for us Turkish Cypriot People.”
President Tatar added that the Turkish Cypriot Side have “equal inherent rights” from history as well as the 1960 treaties that established the partnership Republic of Cyprus. He said the Turkish Cypriot People were expelled from the state apparatus of the republic by force of arms just three years later, and that the Greek Cypriots have usurped the rights of the Turkish Cypriot People, forcing the Turkish Cypriot to govern themselves as a State since 1963. The President stated that a coup d’etat had been staged by the Greek Junta on July 15, 1974, and the ‘Hellenic Republic of Cyprus’ was declared, and added that Archbishop Makarios declared at the UN Security Council in that period that “Greece has invaded Cyprus”. He said Türkiye had exercised her obligation as a guarantor power and staged the Cyprus Peace Operation on July 20, 1974, which stopped the atrocities and bloodshed, and brought peace to the Island of Cyprus.
The President stressed that the Turkish-Greek balance also needs to be preserved in the region – which he said is a right enshrined in international agreements.
Underlining that Turkish Cypriots are a sovereign People in the Island of Cyprus, which was part of the Ottoman Empire for 350 years before the Island was ceded to Great Britain, President Tatar said: “When the UK granted the Island of Cyprus independence, it did so by respecting the rights of self-determination of the Turkish Cypriot People, who were one of the co-signatories to the treaties that established the republic, which was destroyed by the Greek Cypriot Side as part of their aspiration to unite Cyprus to Greece. The Greek Cypriot Side have, for more than half-a-century, rejected at least 15 federal based settlement plans, the most recent being the UN Comprehensive Settlement [Annan] Plan of 2004, and the collapse of negotiations in Crans-Montana in 2017.”
President Tatar said that he was now putting forward a new vision and position for a two State settlement on the basis of sovereign equality and equal international status of the Turkish Cypriot Side. “This basis is realistic, practical and sustainable, and takes lesson from previous failures, enables us to think outside the federal box and to look ahead where the Turkish Cypriot People and Greek Cypriot People can co-exist as good neighbours in a cooperative relationship,” President Tatar said.
He underlined the importance of the support given by the President of the Republic of Türkiye, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, to the two State position that is based on the cooperative relationship of the two existing States on the Island of Cyprus.
Former Speaker of the Turkish Grand National Assembly, Mustafa Şentop, in his statement at the meeting, recalled the years when he was in office, and the importance he attributed to “strengthening bilateral relations between the Republic of Türkiye and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus”.
He explained that he also placed great importance in improving the visibility of the TRNC internationally and the work in international platforms. He said the TRNC has become an observer member of the Organisation of Turkic States due to a lot of work, which he said will be continued in the future by Türkiye.
President Tatar, who welcomed Mr. Şentop and his delegation to the TRNC, said: “We will never forget the closeness of Mr. Şentop to the TRNC and the support he has always given to our country and the Turkish Cypriot cause when he served in office as the Speaker of the Turkish Grand National Assembly.”
Stating that “negotiations as a basis for a settlement in Cyprus under a federal model has been exhausted,” President Tatar said: “The Greek Cypriot Side does not want to share power and prosperity on the basis of equality with the Turkish Cypriot Side, and have a known position of ‘zero-troops, zero-guarantees’ and are demanding an end to the Guarantee of Türkiye and the presence of Turkish forces on the Island. This is something that we will never accept. Under a federal settlement, in the absence of the Guarantee of Türkiye and being an EU member state of which the Republic of Türkiye is not, this would be dangerous for us Turkish Cypriot People.”
President Tatar added that the Turkish Cypriot Side have “equal inherent rights” from history as well as the 1960 treaties that established the partnership Republic of Cyprus. He said the Turkish Cypriot People were expelled from the state apparatus of the republic by force of arms just three years later, and that the Greek Cypriots have usurped the rights of the Turkish Cypriot People, forcing the Turkish Cypriot to govern themselves as a State since 1963. The President stated that a coup d’etat had been staged by the Greek Junta on July 15, 1974, and the ‘Hellenic Republic of Cyprus’ was declared, and added that Archbishop Makarios declared at the UN Security Council in that period that “Greece has invaded Cyprus”. He said Türkiye had exercised her obligation as a guarantor power and staged the Cyprus Peace Operation on July 20, 1974, which stopped the atrocities and bloodshed, and brought peace to the Island of Cyprus.
The President stressed that the Turkish-Greek balance also needs to be preserved in the region – which he said is a right enshrined in international agreements.
Underlining that Turkish Cypriots are a sovereign People in the Island of Cyprus, which was part of the Ottoman Empire for 350 years before the Island was ceded to Great Britain, President Tatar said: “When the UK granted the Island of Cyprus independence, it did so by respecting the rights of self-determination of the Turkish Cypriot People, who were one of the co-signatories to the treaties that established the republic, which was destroyed by the Greek Cypriot Side as part of their aspiration to unite Cyprus to Greece. The Greek Cypriot Side have, for more than half-a-century, rejected at least 15 federal based settlement plans, the most recent being the UN Comprehensive Settlement [Annan] Plan of 2004, and the collapse of negotiations in Crans-Montana in 2017.”
President Tatar said that he was now putting forward a new vision and position for a two State settlement on the basis of sovereign equality and equal international status of the Turkish Cypriot Side. “This basis is realistic, practical and sustainable, and takes lesson from previous failures, enables us to think outside the federal box and to look ahead where the Turkish Cypriot People and Greek Cypriot People can co-exist as good neighbours in a cooperative relationship,” President Tatar said.
He underlined the importance of the support given by the President of the Republic of Türkiye, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, to the two State position that is based on the cooperative relationship of the two existing States on the Island of Cyprus.
Former Speaker of the Turkish Grand National Assembly, Mustafa Şentop, in his statement at the meeting, recalled the years when he was in office, and the importance he attributed to “strengthening bilateral relations between the Republic of Türkiye and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus”.
He explained that he also placed great importance in improving the visibility of the TRNC internationally and the work in international platforms. He said the TRNC has become an observer member of the Organisation of Turkic States due to a lot of work, which he said will be continued in the future by Türkiye.