President Ersin Tatar said on Tuesday that the Turkish Cypriot people were proud to be celebrating the 48th anniversary of their freedom, sovereignty and independence which had been made possible with the 20th of July Turkish Peace Operation.
The celebrations kicked off today with a 21-gun salute and an address to the nation by Tatar on BRT at noon.
Providing a brief history of the Cyprus Issue, President Ersin Tatar said that attempts by the Greek-Greek Cypriot duo to portray the start of the Cyprus Problem as the 1974 Turkish Peace Operation was unacceptable.
“This false claim cannot change what was experienced in Cyprus or hide history. The Cyprus Problem is the result of the Greek-Greek Cypriot duo which has been pursuing the goal of ENOSIS or uniting the island with Greece since 1821,” he said.
Tatar highlighted the importance of preserving the state and its sovereignty.
“Let us not be forgot that nations and peoples without a state or independence, lose their freedom and independence, becoming the slaves of other nations. History is full of such examples,” he added.
The president reminded that the Greek Cypriot side has tried to impose minority rights on the Turkish Cypriot people since the first negotiations which began in 1968, maintaining an intransigent stance ever since.
He said that the Greek-Greek Cypriot duo continues to pursue the goal of reducing Turkish Cypriots into a minority, removing all Turkish troops from the island and scrapping the system of guarantees as part of its policy of “zero troops, zero guarantees.”
Tatar said the latest developments in Ukraine demonstrate just how important Türkiye’s guarantees and the presence of Turkish troops are for the Turkish Cypriot people.
President Ersin Tatar pointed out that the European Union (EU) was another major obstacle in the way of a settlement to the Cyprus Problem.
He said that efforts to solve the Cyprus Problem could not succeed because of the EU’s discriminatory stance on the Cyprus Issue which only served to encourage the Greek Cypriots to continue their intransigent stance.
Tatar reminded that the EU had failed to honour its promises to the Turkish Cypriot people made in 2004, and instead of awarding them for voting in favour of the 2004 UN sponsored Annan Plan, continued to punish them by allowing the Greek Cypriots to join the bloc unilaterally.
“The Greek Cypriot side believes it can use its EU membership to impose the settlement it wants in Cyprus. This is not possible. The unjust isolation and embargoes imposed on the Turkish Cypriot people are continuing. All these actions lead us to question the EU’s principles, values and understanding of justice,” he said.
Tatar said that the TRNC which represents the will of the Turkish Cypriot people is a reality.
“The TRNC is a sovereign, free and democratic modern state. It exists whether or not it is recognised,” the president said, adding that the time had come for the Turkic world to take steps that will help free Turkish Cypriots from international isolation.
Also touching upon the issue of hydrocarbons, President Ersin Tatar said that it was out of the question for Türkiye and the TRNC to remain idle in the face of unilateral actions taken by the Greek Cypriot administration in the Eastern Mediterranean.
He criticized the Greek Cypriot side for rejecting all proposals tabled by Türkiye and the TRNC for the creation of a joint committee that oversees the management and distribution of the region’s hydrocarbon resources.
Tatar added that Türkiye and the TRNC will continue to protect their rights and interests in the Eastern Mediterranean within the framework of the Blue Homeland Doctrine.
Regarding the settlement of the Cyprus Problem, Tatar repeated his view that negotiations to reach a federal solution in Cyprus were over and that the time had come to negotiate a two-state solution on the island.
He said that this solution model was fully supported by Ankara had been tabled by the Turkish Cypriot side at an informal conference held in Geneva in 2021.
“Let it be known that a solution in Cyprus cannot be possible without the recognition of the Turkish Cypriot side’s sovereign equality and its international equal status,” Tatar said.
The president also mentioned his latest set of cooperation proposals made to the Greek Cypriot side via the UN.
Tatar said that these proposals which included the co-management of the island’s hydrocarbon reserves, the island’s water resources, interconnecting the island’s electricity grids with Europe via Türkiye, developing joint projects for renewable energy, demining and tackling the issue of undocumented migrants, were to reveal the Greek Cypriot side’s attempts to rehash defunct confidence-building measure (CBMs) proposals which only aim to extend the Greek Cypriot side’s authority over the north.
He concluded his speech by stating that the TRNC is just as sovereign and legitimate as the Greek Cypriot state.