President Ersin Tatar meets Maria Angela Holguín Cuéllar, Personal Envoy of the UN Secretary-General
President Ersin Tatar has met with Maria Angela Holguín Cuéllar, Personal Envoy of the UN Secretary-General, at the Presidency on Wednesday (May 8).
The respective delegations were also present at the meeting which lasted an hour, following which the President made a statement to the press.
The President stated that the Personal Envoy of the UN Secretary-General was carrying out her third round of visits to the Island of Cyprus as part of her specific mandate to explore whether common ground exists or not between the sides to start new and formal negotiations.
“It has been over four months since Ms Holguin, who was appointed by the Secretary-General on January 5, has been continuing her work which is to explore whether there is common ground or not between the sides,” President Tatar said.
The President stated that he will “not succumb to any kind of pressure to drag the issue somewhere else. . .to bring the leaders together. . . to create a dialogue between the leaders”.
Stating that the “new vision and position of the Turkish Cypriot Side, that was put forward at the 5+UN informal meeting in Geneva three-and-a-half years ago is continuing,” President Tatar said: “Our position is that a sustainable and realistic settlement can be reached on the basis of the sovereign equality and equal international status of the Turkish Cypriot People, which is our inherent right”.
Referring to his recent visit to The Gambia where he participated in the 15th summit of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), President Tatar stated that he had the opportunity to “assess the Cyprus issue with Hakan Fidan, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Türkiye, whilst travelling together to the summit. Türkiye fully supports our position that the inherent rights of the Turkish Cypriot People – namely our sovereign equality and equal international status – are reaffirmed and accepted for a new and formal process to start. We will not take a step back from this position and I have today reiterated this point to Ms Holguin in our meeting.”
Stating that the six-month term of Ms Holguin will expire on July 5, President Tatar said that during the four-month period some determinations have been made that no common ground exists between the sides. “What did we say? We have stated that some steps need to be initially taken for the manifestation of our sovereign equality and equal international status," President Tatar said.
Stressing that “the sovereignty of the Turkish Cypriot People needs to be clearly stated," President Tatar added: "The current position for us, the Turkish Cypriot Side, is that the [UN Security Council] resolution 186, adopted on March 4, 1964, has treated the Greek Cypriots as though they are the sole government of the Island of Cyprus, which is continuing to date.”
Explaining that the Turkish Cypriot People were equal co-founders of the partnership republic in 1960, who were expelled three years later from the state apparatus of the republic by force of arms as part of the Greek Cypriot aspiration to unite Cyprus with Greece (Enosis), President Tatar said: “For 11 years, the Turkish Cypriots were attacked island-wide and forced to live in ghettos and small enclaves in dire conditions, subjected to oppression and isolation. On July 15, 1974, a coup d’etat was staged by the Greek Junta and the ‘Hellenic Republic of Cyprus’ was declared. The Republic of Türkiye undertook the Peace Operation and saved us Turkish Cypriots, which brought peace and freedom to our people and stopped the bloodshed, which we will be celebrating with joy on its 50th anniversary in July.”
Stating that “the Greek Cypriot side has for more than half-a-century rejected equality-based federal plans, including the UN Comprehensive Settlement [Annan] Plan in April 2004, which was accepted by the Turkish Cypriot People in the separately held simultaneous referenda”, President Tatar pointed out that “despite voting against the settlement plan, the Greek Cypriots were accepted as a member by the EU a week after the referenda, and the promises by the international community to end the isolation on the Turkish Cypriot People have still not been honoured."
President Tatar stressed that "Turkish Cypriot People are continuing to face a system of inhuman isolation and restrictions. Enjoying the status they usurped as the government of the whole island, the Greek Cypriot Side cannot even tolerate the Turkish Cypriot People having any contact with other countries of the world. This is the deeply entrenched hegemonic mentality that exists in South Cyprus.”
Stating that he explained to Ms Holguin as well as giving her details with examples of the latest events of the Greek Cypriot “obstructionist policy towards Turkish Cypriots,” President Tatar said: “Prior to our visit to The Gambia to participate in the summit of the OIC in Banjul, the Greek Cypriot Administration of Southern Cyprus arduously tried to stop our participation and to prevent me from addressing the summit. They have also been lobbying for this sort of outcome in the Turkic world. How can we sit down at the table and solve anything when we are facing this type of mentality? Sitting down at the table alone does not solve anything, there is a fundamental need for them to change their mentality.”
Stating that “the needed change of mentality passes through the acceptance of the equal inherent rights of the Turkish Cypriot People,” President Tatar said: “The Turkish Cypriots are People with the same sovereign equal rights. We are continuing a just struggle to co-exist in peace as good neighbours, in a cooperative relationship.”
Stating that he “put forward these issues in the meeting with Ms Holguin today,” President Tatar said: “If a common ground cannot be found between the sides, there is no point in meeting and starting another process.”
President Tatar said he asked the Columbian diplomat to “take a snapshot of the situation” and to “reflect this objectively in her report to the Secretary-General,” following the conclusion of her tenure.
“Ms Holguin will have had the opportunity to have seen first-hand the factual realities on the ground in Cyprus, the very nature and detail of the Cyprus issue and the unjust isolation inflicted on the Turkish Cypriot People,” President Tatar said, adding: “If the report is going to be just, it has to express all of these issues”.
President Tatar stated that the UN Secretary-General is an “experienced diplomat on the Cyprus issue,” adding: “If a settlement is going to be found, this must not be through any sort of pressure, it has to be mutually acceptable and freely negotiated. . . in accordance with UN practices.”
President Tatar stated that a settlement in Cyprus can be found on the basis of two States that are in a cooperative relationship, co-existing as neighbours, which he said is a position fully supported by the Republic of Türkiye.
“I have stated to Ms Holguin the position of the Turkish Cypriot Side, thanked her for all her efforts to explore whether common ground exists or not between the sides, and our expectation for an objective report. . . we are not in a position to invest in another failure. I have shared my assessment on what needs to be done,” President Tatar said.