President Ersin Tatar met with a group of 42 Swedish United Nations Peacekeeping Veterans  who served in Cyprus as from 1964 at the Presidency on Friday evening.

President Tatar, who thanked the group for visiting the Presidency, said: “This week, we marked the 60th anniversary of the deployment of UNFICYP to the Island of Cyprus.  The 1960 Republic of Cyprus was  founded with the two equal Peoples – the Turkish Cypriots and the Greek Cypriots, who were co-existing together on the Island. However, in December 1963, the attacks had started on Turkish Cypriots, who were expelled from the state apparatus by force of arms. We were forced to abandon 103 Turkish Cypriot villages, and to live in enclaves and tents without sufficient resources including our basic human needs.  You had been deployed as UN Peacekeepers following the adoption of UN Security Council Resolution 186 on March 4, 1964.”

Stating that “you had come to the Island to carry out your duties and to protect the Turkish Cypriot People who were being faced with military attacks and inhumane treatment that included terrible atrocities,” President Tatar continued: “Turkish Cypriots feel gratitude to you for your services at the time. I was a child living about two streets away from the Presidential complex in Lefkoşa. I remember watching UN soldiers, who were on the Island to protect the Turkish Cypriots. Those are memories that we have never forgotten.”

President Tatar added:  “Despite your presence on the Island, the Greek Cypriots never stopped, and continued their attacks, including on Erenköy, Geçitkale, Yeniboğaziçi and carried out other atrocities in different parts of the Island of Cyprus”.

Explaining that the “real peace operation in Cyprus happened on 20th July 1974 with the Peace Operation by Guarantor Türkiye following a coup d’etat by the Greek Junta and declaration of the Hellenic Republic of Cyprus,” President Tatar said: “Since this lawful intervention, an Exchange of Population Agreement allowed for Turkish Cypriots to move to the North, and the Greek Cypriots to move to the South which was done on voluntary basis.”

Stating that resolution 186 treated the Greek Cypriot Side as the sole government of the Island, which is the reason the Greek Cypriots are today being treated as the ‘Republic of Cyprus’, President Tatar added: “This partnership ceased to exist since the usurpation of the rights of the Turkish Cypriot People, who were kicked out of the republic in 1963, and this republic has been occupied by the Greek Cypriot side ever since.   The Turkish Cypriot People exercised their inherent right and we have been running our own affairs and  governing ourselves as a State, out of necessity, which is today the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus."

Stressing that “Turkish Cypriots are today able to continue their existence on the Island in peace and freedom within the TRNC,” President Tatar stated that countless negotiations over several decades were held for an equality-based federal settlement. “However, the Greek Cypriot Side rejected federal settlements at least 15 times,” President Tatar said, adding:  “In April 2004, the Greek Cypriot People rejected the UN Comprehensive Settlement Plan in the separately held simultaneous referenda by 76 per cent, which was accepted by the Turkish Cypriots by 65 per cent. In July 2017, the final attempt for a federal settlement again collapsed.  The Greek Cypriot Side do not want to share power and prosperity with us Turkish Cypriots on the basis of equality, and they have no incentive to do so whilst they are treated as the sole government of the whole Island by the international community. This is the crux of the problem.”

President Tatar stated that the Turkish Cypriot Side has withdrawn its consent for a federal based settlement and is today putting forward a new vision and position for a realistic and practical settlement that is based on the existence of two States and the sovereign equality and equal international status of the Turkish Cypriot People.

The President said he had spoken with some members of the group, who had explained to him that they had visited numerous sites in the TRNC. “As you have seen, we are a fully functioning state, with our own Parliament, government, judiciary, police force, military, municipalities, civil organisations and so forth.  The Turkish Cypriot People are a sovereign people with a right to self-determination. We will not accept becoming a minority of anybody.”

President Tatar thanked the group for visiting the TRNC and wished them  long and healthy lives.

Speaking on behalf of the group, Anders Arvidsson thanked President Tatar for meeting the group, and said they were visiting different parts of the country and reliving memories of the time they were serving on the Island.
Mr Anders also stated that there are two distinct peoples with two different languages, cultures and religions, that no progress has been made for a settlement over the past 60 years, and he said that a settlement can be reached with recognition by the international community.

President Tatar was accompanied by Foreign Press Officer Kerem Haser.