The European Union should “stop being a slave to the Greek Cypriot side”, Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar said on Thursday evening.
Tatar was reacting to the outcome of this week’s extraordinary European Council summit in Brussels, which reaffirmed the EU’s support for a bicommunal bizonal federal solution to the Cyprus problem.
He said the European Council’s conclusions constitute a “surrender to the Greek Cypriot side” and “emphasize the fact that the EU cannot be neutral”.
“First of all, I would like to draw attention to the fact that [THE CYPRUS PROBLEM], which they imported into the EU 20 years ago, contrary to their own membership criteria, started as a result of the Greek Cypriot leadership’s attempts to connect the island to Greece,” he said.
He said responsibility for the failure of negotiations to find a solution to the Cyprus problem thus far “lies with the Greek Cypriot leadership, which has been allowed to maintain the status it usurped in 1963 to this day.”
He pointed to the failure of negotiations in Crans Montana in 2017 as an example and said, “attempting to impose a federal solution … ignores the will of the Turkish Cypriot side, which has withdrawn its consent for this model.”
He then reaffirmed his insistence that United Nations Envoy Maria Angela Holguin only remain in post for six months and said her appointment “is a clear indication that a federation is no longer a common ground for any compromise”.
“The Turkish Cypriot side will not engage in an exercise which has already proven to be a failure. A new and official process can only begin with the confirmation of our sovereign equality and international status,” he added.
With this in mind, he said “associating relations between Turkey and the EU with a process regarding the Cyprus problem is nothing more than futile rhetoric aimed at advancing the Greek Cypriot position.
“The main responsible party for the unresolved state of the Cyprus problem is the maximalist attitude of the Greek Cypriot leadership and those who support the continuation of this attutde.”
He concluded by calling on the EU to “fulfil the requirements of the decision it took 20 years ago to lift the inhumane isolation imposed on the Turkish Cypriot people.”
Tatar’s comments on the matter fall in stark contrast to those of Nikos Christodoulides, who welcomed the European Council’s conclusions on Thursday.
“This is something we have been aiming to for a long time,” he said upon arrival in Brussels. “The juncture is significant, given the efforts of the UN Secretary-General to resume talks.”
“Whether Turkey wants it or not, Euro-Turkish relations also go through the Cyprus problem,” he said.
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