Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan addressed the 76th UN General Assembly on Tuesday.
Touching upon the Cyprus issue in his speech, Erdoğan said that a fair, lasting and sustainable solution to the Cyprus issue was possible only through a result-oriented, realistic approach.
“While the leader of one of the two peoples on the island, which the United Nations considers as equal, can address you, it is not fair that the other leader cannot make his voice heard on this platform” the Turkish President said and stressed that for a solution, it is necessary to reaffirm the sovereign equality and equal international status
of the Turkish Cypriot people, who are the co-owners of the island.
Noting that Turkey supported the new vision put forward by the Turkish Cypriot people for a solution, Erdoğan called on the international community to evaluate the views of the Turkish Cypriots with an open mind and without prejudice.
“The continuation of the calm environment in the Eastern Mediterranean is in our common interest. We hope that the problems regarding maritime boundary delimitation will be resolved within the framework of international law and good neighbourly relations. For this, it is necessary, first of all, to abandon the understanding whereby Turkey, which has the longest coast in the Eastern Mediterranean, is ignored in the region. Our proposal to organize an ‘Eastern Mediterranean Conference’, in which all actors in the region will take part for dialogue and cooperation, is still on the table” Erdoğan said.
“Similarly, we believe that the problems in the Aegean Sea should be resolved through a bilateral dialogue” he added.