Tatar calls on Islamic states to help end ‘unjust isolation’
PRESIDENT Ersin Tatar has called on the world’s Islamic states to “help end the unjust isolation of the Turkish Cypriot people” at a meeting with delegates of the Independent Permanent Human Rights Commission (IPHRC) of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), including its chairman Dr Hacı Ali Açıkgül, at the Presidential Palace in Lefkoşa.
Thanking the delegation for visiting North Cyprus, the President told the delegates: “We very much value your presence in the TRNC. It is important to visit our country and see the facts on the ground.”
He went on to describe Cyprus’s recent history, speaking of how “Greek Cypriot forces attacked our people” and that “genocide was committed in Cyprus”.
Mr Tatar then referred to the 2004 “Annan Plan” referendum to unite Cyprus, which was overwhelmingly accepted by Turkish Cypriots but rejected by Geek Cypriots, mentioning how “despite this outcome, the Greek Cypriot side [was] admitted to the EU, whilst Turkish Cypriots were left out in the cold”.
Her blasted the European Union’s stance on the Cyprus issue, saying: “They now want guarantor Turkey, which has a population of 85 million and [is] located just 40 miles away from the island, to leave the island.
“They want to cut our bonds with Turkey, and they will use their political and economic superiority to melt us. We will not accept this.”
Of the situation as it stands today, President Tatar said: “The Cyprus issue, aside from being a geostrategic matter with an international dimension, is also a human rights problem. There are two peoples on this island. Turkish Cypriots are a sovereign people who have the right to determine their own destiny.”
Dr Açıkgül said that his delegation was happy to visit the TRNC, and added that his commission is due to visit different countries, in order to determine human rights violations in different regions of the world such as in Kashmir, Palestine, and Nagorno-Karabakh.
Meanwhile Prof Dr Hüseyin Işıksal, Mr Tatar’s special adviser on international relations and diplomacy, participated in a conference in İstanbul organised jointly by the OIC and the Republic of Turkey and titled “Human Rights Violations Encountered by Muslims”.
Prof Işıksal gave a speech describing the situation of Muslims in Europe and the Turkish Cypriots.
He spoke of how Turkish Cypriots had been “evicted out of the partnership [of the] Republic of Cyprus in 1963 by force of arms” and said that “the Turkish Cypriot people are paying the price for being Turkish and Muslim”.
“Muslims who came to Europe to work in the 1960s were not perceived as a problem at first because they entered into employment not commonly favoured by Europeans,” he said.
“The problem [on] the continent started when Muslims demanded the most basic human rights . . . it was then that everything, from the existence of mosques to the wearing of women’s headscarves, began to stand out and [be] perceived as a problem, and far-right parties and groups exploited this situation.”
Prof Işıksal also used his speech to reaffirm his and the President’s belief in a two-state solution to the Cyprus problem.
He described the TRNC as a “fully fledged democratic state with all the features that a state should have” but that, despite this, “Turkish Cypriots are subject to inhuman embargoes, especially in the fields of free flight, direct trade, and sports”.
Prof Işıksal stated that “it is time for these restrictions, which are a violation of our human rights, to end” and that the Turkish Cypriot people “expect support and solidarity from Muslim countries to end the unjust embargoes”.
“It is difficult to achieve a result unless Muslim countries put their individual interests aside and fight for our common interests,” he added.
“It is important for the Islamic world not to abandon the Turkish Cypriots in this struggle.” Prof Işıksal also called for the TRNC to be made a full member of the OIC.