President Ersin Tatar on Tuesday praised the sacred struggle waged by the Turkish Cypriot people.

In an online meeting with the Denizli Municipal Assembly, Tatar said that a strong Turkiye gave strength to the Turkish Cypriot people.

“The Turkish nation will grow stronger as a result of the efforts to protect our rights and interests in the Eastern Mediterranean,” he added.

Pointing out that the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus has been affected by the pandemic as well as the conflict in Ukraine, Tatar said that they were trying to overcome this difficult period with the support of Turkiye.

“The struggle we are waging is for the continuation of Turkish presence on the island,” he said.

Tatar also pointed out that the mentality of the Greek-Greek Cypriot duo had not changed and that what their true desire was to unite the island with Greece.

He said that there were two seperate peoples in Cyprus and that a two-state solution on the basis of sovereign equality and international equal status was the only way a political settlement could be reached on the island.

Tatar argued that a federal settlement was not possible because both sides had a very different understanding of what a settlement entailed.

“A federal settlement in time would result in the Greek Cypriots establishing dominance over Turkish Cypriots. The Greek-Greek Cypriot duo are trying to impose a federal settlement which would eventually lead to the scrapping of the system of guarantees, end the presence of Turkish troops and transform Cyprus into a Greek island under the EU flag,” he said.