President Ersin Tatar on Wednesday said that the Turkish Cypriot people will never abandon Turkiye’s guarantees.
In his message issued to mark the 58th anniversary of the heroic Baf resistance, he said that the ongoing conflict in Ukraine was proof that security threats were still a reality.
“Problems should not be solved through wars and guns but through dialogue,” he said, calling on the Greek Cypriot administration to abandon its armament campaign and to adopt a positive approach regarding the Turkish Cypriot side’s calls for dialogue.
He reminded that Baf and its surrounding Turkish Cypriot villages were among the targets of the violence unleashed by Greek Cypriots on December 21, 1963.
“The Turkish Cypriots in Baf put up a legendary resistance paying a price with their blood and lives. Today we remember those heroes who fell and our veterans with respect,” Tatar said in his message.
The president said that the Greek Cypriots, emboldened by the UN’s decision in March 1964 to recognize them as the only legitimate government of the island, stepped up their attacks on Turkish Cypriot villages and settlement on March 7th.
Tatar reminded that Turkish Cypriot fighters had put up a fierce and brave resistance resulting in the death of 13 martyrs.
He said that captured fighters were tortured to death, experiencing unspeakable horrors in the hands of their Greek Cypriot captors.
President Tatar said that it was motherland Turkiye which had intervened to stop the attacks as the rest of the world stood watching.
“The (Greek Cypriot) attacks ceased after Turkiye delivered a note to the Greek-Greek Cypriot duo. The second biggest attack unleashed by the Greek Cypriots against Turkish Cypriots was in Erenköy. Again this attack was repelled through Turkiye’s intervention,” he added.
President Ersin Tatar said that these events are a sufficient reason as to why the Turkish Cypriot people will never abandon Turkiye’s guarantees.
“The continuation of Turkiye’s guarantees and the presence of Turkish troops in Cyprus is our red line,” he said, pointing out that the Turkish Cypriot side’s position on the matter is clear.
Tatar added that any attempt to water down or scrap Turkiye’s guarantees on grounds that the 1960 system is an outdated anachronistic will not be accepted.
“We owe this to our people and our martyrs,” he said.