Erdoğan blasts EU ahead of TRNC visit
TURKISH President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has blasted the EU over calls for him to tone down his words when he is due to visit the TRNC on July 20.
Mr Erdoğan is planning to travel to North Cyprus for the country’s Peace and Freedom Day, which this year marks the 47th anniversary of Turkey’s intervention in Cyprus to stop a military coup to annex the island to Greece, and attacks on the Turkish Cypriot population.
While no official programme has been announced for the visit, there is speculation that Mr Erdoğan will travel to Maraş, also known as Varosha, as he did during a visit last November.
He is also expected to make a speech and launch new infrastructure projects that have been funded by Turkey.
Speaking at a tank and pallet factory in Turkey’s northwestern province of Sakarya, Mr Erdoğan said he had been asked by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen not to give any “harsh messages” while in Cyprus.
“God willing, I will be in North Cyprus on July 20,” he said.
“We will be there with a large team and the other day we were talking with the President of the European Commission. She said, ‘I heard you are going to Cyprus.’ I said, ‘Yes, I will go’. ‘Could you not send harsh messages from there’ [she said]. I said ‘If you let me know what kind of messages you want me to give, then I will read that text there.
“I mean, they have still not been able to learn who is who.
I am a child of this nation. Since when did you learn that Erdoğan gives speeches based on instructions?”
Mr Erdoğan also said that Turkey will defend its rights in the Eastern Mediterranean and will continue with exploration activities for offshore hydrocarbon energy resources in the region.
“Whatever our rights are, we are seizing them and we will seize them,” he said.
“We will carry out our oil exploration operations in the Eastern Mediterranean, especially in all those seas [around] Cyprus.
“Are we currently doing it? Yes, we are. Are we drilling? We are. Are we conducting our seismic surveys? We are, and the signals of natural gas come constantly.
“Now, I hope the goal is to extract natural gas from there as soon as possible, and after extracting natural gas, my nation will be much more relaxed and will have the opportunity to use natural gas much more cheaply.”
Meanwhile Ms von der Leyen has repeated comments that the EU will “never, ever” accept a two-state solution during a visit to South Cyprus on Thursday, where she met Greek Cypriot leader Nicos Anastasiades.
“I want to repeat that we will never, ever accept a two-state solution. We are firm on that and very united,” she told a press conference.
“Our neighbours have [an] interest in good bilateral relations. If this is the case, and we also have an interest in good bilateral relations, I want our neighbours to know that if they speak to one of our member states, like for example Cyprus, in whatever tone, they speak to the European Union.”
Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay, who visited the TRNC on Thursday to meet with President Ersin Tatar and make preparations for Mr Erdoğan’s visit, said: “Our belief and thinking about Cyprus is based on two equal sovereign states.
“We agree on this issue and are in unity and solidarity with President Ersin Tatar and the TRNC government and that is the clearest message we send to the world from here.”