President: Turkish Cypriots will not abandon state, sovereignty

TURKISH Cypriot people will not abandon their state and sovereignty, President Ersin Tatar has said days before his latest meeting with the UN’s senior official for Cyprus issues, Jane Holl Lute.

Ms Lute is expected to fly into the island tomorrow for separate meetings with Mr Tatar and Greek Cypriot leader Nicos Anastasiades on Monday, ahead of “informal” UN-led talks in Geneva from April 27-29.

Mr Tatar, speaking while receiving a delegation from the Cyprus Turkish Freedom Fighters (TMT) Association, said it was a “waste of time” to form a republic or a federal partnership with a side that does not want to share power and prosperity with the Turkish Cypriots.

The remarks were made as Mr Anastasiades said that Cyprus forms an “integral part of Hellenism” and also praised the “heroic independence fighters” of the Greek Cypriot terror group Eoka, while describing the TMT (the Turkish Resistance Organisation) set up to defend Turkish Cypriots against the island-wide attacks in the 1960s and 1970s, as a “terrorist organisation”.

In separate comments made during a TV interview, Mr Anastasiades claimed that a two-state settlement is “unacceptable” to the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, such as the US, Russia and China, as well as the EU. He also threatened to block the EU customs union with Turkey if it did not solve the Cyprus issue.

President Tatar said this week: “I won the election by saying that I support a twostate settlement. Being united prior to the Geneva informal meeting is important. The Turkish Cypriot side is putting forward a policy based on its national sensitivity.”

Mr Tatar, taking part in an event that commemorated the late statesman Mustafa Çağatay on the 32nd anniversary of his death, said that the TRNC is continuing to develop and “grow stronger as each day passes”.

Referring to the eastern Mediterranean, he said: “We are able to stand firm and adopt an honourable policy in this region together with Turkey. We have to continue our existence and sovereignty as a people, in order to honour and crown the efforts and services of people like Mr Çağatay.”

Lashing out at Mr Anastasiades over his remarks about the TMT, the President said: “Mr Anastasiades replied to the statement I made on the occasion of Eoka’s 66th anniversary, when he claimed that Eoka was the organisation of liberation fighters and heroes, and that the main terrorist organisation was supposedly the TMT.

“We deny and detest this and, standing by the grave of Mr Çağatay, we wish to say to the Greek Cypriots that we have not forgotten, nor will we forget.

“They should not distort history. The Turkish Cypriot people exist on these lands and will continue to exist. If an agreement is going to be found, we are already announcing to the world that it will have to be after we consider very carefully and in detail the lessons we have learned from the past negotiations.”

Meanwhile Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, taking part in a video meeting of the Turkic Council, called upon Turkic states to support the TRNC.

“I believe that by uniting our strength, we will be able to bring the Turkish Cypriots to the point that they are entitled to,” he said.