President Ersin Tatar speaks at the panel for a “New Future for Cyprus" at the 3rd Antalya Diplomacy Forum
President Ersin Tatar calls on the international community to “wake up” to realities of the Island of Cyprus
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President Ersin Tatar has addressed a panel on the “New Future for Cyprus” at the 3rd Antalya Diplomacy Forum (ADF) that was held at the Nest Congress Centre, where he called upon the international community to “wake up” to the realities of the Island of Cyprus.
The forum is being held under the auspices of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, President of the Republic of Türkiye and organised by the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, under the theme “Advancing Diplomacy in Times of Turmoil”. The ADF is being attended by 4,500 participants, including 19 heads of state, 73 ministers, and 57 international representatives.
President Tatar said he was very happy to be attending the “very important international forum” which has “brought together world leaders and the representatives of different countries”, at a time the world is witnessing conflicts, catastrophic consequences of war, and different challenges faced by humanity.
Thanking President Erdoğan and Minister of Foreign Affairs Fidan for organising such an important event that has brought together representatives of more than 100 countries for an all-encompassing debate on different issues, President Tatar said: “The ADF has provided a platform for me, as the TRNC President, and my delegation, to be able have meetings with different international actors, and to convey the views of the Turkish Cypriot People who continue to face inhumane isolation and restrictions preventing direct flights and direct trade with our country.”
“Every political dispute has two sides. Both sides need to be listened to if a just and viable settlement is going to be reached. However, the Turkish Cypriot Side is not being allowed to express themselves at many international platforms. The Greek Cypriot Side does not have any democratic legitimacy to represent us,” President Tatar said.
Pointing out that the Cyprus issue has entered its 61st year, the President said: “We are putting forward a new position as a basis for a settlement in Cyprus, which is for the inherent rights of the Turkish Cypriot People – namely our sovereign equality and equal international status, to be reaffirmed and acknowledged. We are talking about the peaceful coexistence of the Turkish Cypriot People and the Greek Cypriot People, living as neighbours, and the cooperative relationship of the two States.”
President Tatar stated that “federal based negotiations, held for more than 50 years, have been tried, failed and exhausted,” because of the “Greek Cypriot Side’s refusal to share power and prosperity with their Turkish Cypriot equals,” he added. “The former late Greek Cypriot Foreign Minister, Nicos Rolandis, has stated that it was the Greek Cypriot Side that rejected 15 settlement plans.”
Stating that a separately held simultaneous referenda was held in April 2004 for a UN Comprehensive Settlement [Annan] Plan on both sides of Cyprus, President Tatar said: “The Greek Cypriot People rejected the plan by 76 per cent, whilst Turkish Cypriot People voted in support of the plan by 65 per cent. The side that rejected the settlement that was accepted as an EU member state one-week later, whilst the promises to end the isolation on the Turkish Cypriot People were never kept."
President Tatar added that despite arduous efforts by the Turkish Cypriot Side to reach an equality-based settlement, negotiations for a federal solution collapsed in Crans-Montana in July 2017.
“Continuing negotiations on a basis that has been exhausted and repeatedly rejected by the Greek Cypriot Side is not going to work,” President Tatar said, adding: “The Turkish Cypriot Side has withdrawn its consent from a federal model as being a basis for a settlement. We are putting forward a fresh new position for a two State settlement on the basis of sovereign equality and equal international status, which we first conveyed to the international community at the 5+UN informal meeting in April 2021.”
President Tatar added: “The Turkish Cypriots are a distinct people with their own language, culture, language and religion. . . we had established the partnership Republic of Cyprus as co-founders together with the Greek Cypriots on the basis of equality in 1960. Sovereignty of the Island was handed to the Turkish Cypriot People and Greek Cypriot People.”
Stating that the Greek Cypriot Side destroyed the republic in December 1963 by expelling the Turkish Cypriots from the state apparatus of the republic by force of arms, President Tatar said: “From 1963 to 1974, the Greek Cypriot side, as part of its aspiration to unite Cyprus with Greece, initiated island-wide attacks on Turkish Cypriots, which continued for 11 years.” President Tatar explained that the Republic of Türkiye undertook the Cyprus Peace Operation in July 1974 as a guarantor power following the coup d’etat by the Greek Junta in Cyprus, which had declared the ‘Hellenic Republic of Cyprus'. The President stressed that it was in fact Türkiye's Peace Operation that brought peace to the Island and stopped the bloodshed.
“We have, as Turkish Cypriots, been governing ourselves as a State for more than 60 years,” President Tatar continued. “The Turkish Cypriot People are today living under the roof of their own State. We are as sovereign as the Greek Cypriot Side, and for decades there have been and still are two States in Cyprus. The international community should wake up to the realities of the Island.”
Stating that the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus is the “representative and defender of the Turkish presence and interests in the eastern Mediterranean”, President Tatar stated that the “TRNC will continue to exist and develop with the support of the Republic of Türkiye”.
Pointing out that the Turkish Cypriot side has always been in favour of diplomacy, President Tatar stressed that new and formal negotiations will not start until the sovereign equality and equal international status of the Turkish Cypriot People are reaffirmed.
President Tatar stated that María Ángela Holguín Cuéllar, the new Personal Envoy of the UN Secretary-General, has been assigned with a specific mandate to explore, for a period not exceeding six months, whether common ground exists or not between the two Sides. Expressing support to the work of Ms Holguin, the President said he expects her to report objectively at the end of this period.
Referring to the calls by President Erdoğan for the international community to formally recognise the TRNC and to put an end to the isolation of the Turkish Cypriot People, at the 77th and 78th sessions of the UN General Assembly in 2022 and 2023, President Tatar said: “At a time when the Turkish Cypriot People are being obstructed, if not prevented, from being able to voice their views and represent themselves at important platforms and organisations, President Erdoğan made calls to the international community to recognise the TRNC, and to put an end to the persecution of the Turkish Cypriot People and their unlawful isolation. He called on world nations to establish diplomatic, economic and political relations with our country.”
The President said that following this historic call, the TRNC was admitted into the Organisation of Turkic States as an observer member at the summit in Samarakand, Uzbekistan, in November 2022.
Stressing that the TRNC is a fully functioning state with its own Parliament, government and judiciary, President Tatar stated that “we have celebrated the 40th anniversary of the proclamation of the TRNC,” adding that “the existence of our State cannot be ignored. Our honourable struggle and fight will continue, to co-exist as sovereign equals on the Island of Cyprus.”
In reference to his official visits to Azerbaijan and Kyrgyzstan, President Tatar emphasised that he had met with President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev and the President of Kyrgyzstan, Sadyr Japarov, where discussions were held on strengthening relations and ties covering different areas between the TRNC and their countries.
President Tatar also stated that he had conveyed six cooperation proposals to the Greek Cypriot Side via the UN Secretary-General across different areas that would be beneficial to the two Sides and promote trust and interaction. “However, the Greek Cypriot Side have never officially accepted our proposals, which includes cooperation on hydrocarbon resources around the Island of Cyprus, an interconnectivity cable to the EU via the Republic of Türkiye, the effective use of solar energy for transition to green energy, the development of freshwater resources on both Sides, de-mining of the whole island and curbing irregular migration,” President Tatar said.
Stating that the Turkish Cypriot People are “deeply concerned about the significant loss of life in Gaza” and the “humanitarian tragedy”, President Tatar emphasised: “There have been around 30,000 people who have died. Nothing is more important than the lives of innocent people, babies and children."
Stating that the Turkish Cypriot People, who have previously suffered similar atrocities, are today “following the humanitarian tragedy being lived by the Palestinian people in Gaza with great concern”, President Tatar said: “I express my heartfelt wish for a ceasefire to be established as soon as possible, and for diplomacy and peace to replace violence and destruction.”
Pointing out that the tragedy taking place in Gaza has once again demonstrated the importance of having security and guarantees, President Tatar stressed: “Thanks to the Turkish Armed Forces, we have been living in peace on the island of Cyprus since 1974. The Cyprus Peace Operation by Türkiye brought peace not only to the Turkish Cypriot People, but also to the Greek Cypriot People, and this also explains why the presence of the Turkish army on the island cannot be questioned."
President Tatar thanked everybody for attending the panel and listening to the Turkish Cypriot Side on the way forward for the Island of Cyprus, saying: “We are not going to invest in the exhausted federal basis. There is no doubt that the way forward in Cyprus is for a realistic and sustainable settlement to be based on our sovereign equality and equal international status, with two States that are in a cooperative relationship."