President Ersin Tatar participates in a reception held in his honour by Doğan F. Işık, Consulate General of the Republic of Türkiye, at his Residency in Melbourne
“I am visiting Australia to express my gratitude to the Turkish Cypriot community in multicultural Australia and to acknowledge their successes across different walks of life and their preservation of our culture and traditions in the country”
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President Ersin Tatar participated in a reception held in his honour by Doğan F. Işık, Consul General of the Republic of Türkiye in Melbourne, that was held at his Residency and attended by prominent members of the Turkish Cypriot and Turkish community.
The reception was also attended by Natalie Süleyman, Minister for Veterans, Minister for Small Business and Minister for Youth in the Parliament of the State of Victoria.
Addressing the reception, President Tatar stated that he is paying a visit to Australia to take part in the numerous organisations and meetings marking the momentous 80th anniversary of the first arrival of Turkish Cypriots to Australia.
“I have come to Australia to express my gratitude to the Turkish Cypriot community,” President Tatar said in his opening remarks of his speech. “I am here to embrace our community, to show to the world that wherever Turkish Cypriots live, albeit in the TRNC, Motherland Türkiye, the UK or Australia, our hearts beat as one, our love is for our Homeland, the TRNC. We exist as a People with our own language, history, culture and traditions,” President Tatar said.
“Yesterday, I attended a festival in Sydney, where I embraced our community there. I was touched by what I saw. I wish to commend you and thank you,” he said.
President Tatar said: “Imagine a people who were forced to move abroad due to the problems and oppression in Cyprus, at a time when it took months for people to travel on a ferry from Cyprus, who were bound for Australia. . . a time when letters took months to be posted between the two countries, when there was no adequate form of communications technology and the internet as we have today. However, despite this, our resilient, heroic people, moved to a new country which they never knew, to build new lives, and in doing so managed to preserve their culture and traditions. You have brought up your children and grandchildren to understand their history and culture, which has enrichened the social fabric of multicultural Australia, which we are celebrating.”
Stating that he is the first ever TRNC President to visit Australia, President Tatar said he had made a promise to the numerous civil organisations during online meetings following their invitation to him to visit the country which was conveyed during online meetings, in the past three years.
President Tatar thanked the Republic of Türkiye and to the people who worked arduously for the visit.
“I have always placed great importance on the unity and solidarity of the Turkish Cypriots living in Australia,” President Tatar said. “You are our voice in this very important and influential country in Asia, thousands of miles away from our Homeland. Turkish Cypriot People are seeking justice, equal treatment, equal opportunities and equal status. We have equal inherent rights in Cyprus, namely sovereign equality and equal international status,” President Tatar said.
“I am making calls to the international community to support a settlement in Cyprus that is based on the factual realities of the Island, the existence of two Peoples, two democracies and two States,” he added.
“I want to pay tribute to and commend our community for their love and devotion for their Homeland, the TRNC and to Motherland Türkiye,” the President said.
The President remarked that the “Turkish Cypriots have entered their fourth generation in Australia,” and said it is important for the youth to learn the Turkish language and preserve their culture and traditions”.
President Tatar said that the Turkish Cypriot People continue to face injustice and are being subjected to inhuman isolation which needs to be ended by the international community by honouring their own promises, that is in violation of their individual and collective human rights.
In reference to the Cyprus issue, President Tatar said: “It is my new vision that a settlement in Cyprus needs to be based on the sovereign equality and equal international status. Negotiations for a federal settlement have been tried, failed and exhausted, due to the Greek Cypriot Side’s obstructionist policy and refusal to share governance and the resources of the Island with Turkish Cypriot People.”
Reminding that the Greek Cypriot Side voted to reject the Annan Plan in the separately held simultaneous referenda held in April 2004 by 76 per cent that had been accepted by the Turkish Cypriot People by 65 per cent, President Tatar said: “During this period, the promises were made to the Turkish Cypriots to end our isolation, to enable our People to enjoy direct travel and direct trade, to enable our youth from being able to participate in many prominent sports tournaments under our own flag, but these promises have never been honoured.”
Stating that the last and final negotiations for a federal settlement collapsed in Crans-Montana in July 2017, President Tatar said that it is now the time to open a new page for Cyprus, to think outside the federal box, and to look forward to a Cyprus that is based on two States and the cooperative relationship of the two Sides that will be to the benefit of the Island of Cyprus and the region.
President Tatar said that the President of the Republic of Türkiye, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, addressed the 77th and 78th sessions of the UN General Assembly, and called upon the international community to end the isolation on the Turkish Cypriot people. He added that President Erdoğan also made historic calls and has, during his speeches at the UN General Assembly, invited world nations to formally recognise the TRNC.
President Tatar stated that the TRNC has, with the full support of President Erdoğan and the Turkish Government, been accepted as an observer member of the Organisation of Turkic States (OTS) in 2022, and is continuing to develop relations with the Turkic countries across different areas. The President said that he paid a visit to Azerbaijan after being invited by President İlham Aliyev, and that there are significant developments in TRNC-Azerbaijan relations. “This shows that the slogan of One Nation, Three States, is yielding tangible results. TRNC is continuing to develop relations and areas of cooperation with other countries in the OTS, and we are an observer member of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation. Many parties have started to understand the realities of the Island of Cyprus and what needs to be done for a realistic and sustainable peace that is based on the co-existence of the two Sides as good neighbours,” he said.
“Cyprus is a national cause for Türkiye and TRNC,” President Tatar said, adding that the Island of Cyprus is has geostrategic and geopolitical importance, as an Island located just 40 miles south of Türkiye, and as the southern-most Turkish state, located in the eastern Mediterranean.
“Having visited Sydney and taken part in celebrations there, I am very happy to be in Melbourne with you for the celebrations marking the 80th anniversary of Turkish Cypriot arrival to Australia. I am here to strengthen the bridge between the TRNC and our community in Australia. We are a People that exists and irrespective of where we live in the world, our hearts beat together for the same cause and our Homeland, the TRNC, which is the symbol of our sovereignty and independence,” President Tatar said.
Natalie Süleyman: “Turkish Cypriots have been contributing to the multicultural tapestry of Australia for generations”
Addressing the reception, Natalie Süleyman, Minister for Veterans, Minister for Small Business and Minister for Youth in the Parliament of the State of Victoria, welcomed President Tatar to Australia, and said: “Turkish Cypriots have been contributing to our state's multicultural tapestry for generations. Victoria is home to the largest Turkish community in Australia. Right across our community there are successful migrant stories. We are proud to celebrate our diversity, culture and language. This is what makes Victoria special.”