"The Cyprus problem is one of Turkey's top priorities", Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said and argued that "the intransigent mentality of the Greek Cypriot side undermined all efforts for a solution." He argued that "the Varosha initiative is fully compatible with international law."
For his part, 'supremo' Tahsin Ertugrouloglu said that "the Cyprus problem is a matter for the Turkish nation in the Eastern Mediterranean."
In a joint press conference with the 'supremo' of the pseudo-state, Tahsin Ertugruloglu, Mevlut Cavusoglu said that "the legitimate rights and security of the 'T/C people' must be ensured.The solution must be just, permanent and sustainable," he said.
He claimed that the Turkish side made "constructive and creative ideas, good efforts, but the intransigent mentality of the Greek Cypriot side undermined all efforts for a solution." "This mentality, which destroyed the partnership state in 1963, rejected the Annan plan in 2004. In 2017, it left the table in Grand Montana."
Last year, we saw the same disingenuous attitude from them in Geneva. The E/C rejected the federation model from the beginning. Now, when we said 'federation cannot exist anymore' they started to embrace this model," Mevlut Cavusoglu said.
The Turkish Foreign Minister said Turkey supports the steps taken in Varosha with the same understanding. "The Varosha initiative is fully compatible with international law," the Turkish minister said, adding that "claims that the 'authorities' of 'tdvk' are trying to create new victims are E/C propaganda."
Mevlut Cavusoglu said that "Turkey is determined to protect both its own rights on its own continental shelf in the eastern Mediterranean and the rights of the TCs who are the equal and common owners of the island. It has shown this so far on the ground and at the negotiating table. This determination is still valid today."
Ertugruloglu: Turkey is our guarantor
For his part, Tahsin Ertugruloglu said that "the Cyprus problem is not only an issue between Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots, it is an issue of the Turkish nation in the Eastern Mediterranean."
"Turkey is not any other country, Turkey is our homeland, it is our guarantor," Tahsin Ertugruloglu said. Asked if elections in the Republic of Cyprus in 2023 will have an impact on the resolution of the Cyprus problem, he said: "I don't think they will. As long as the state status that the Greek Cypriot side should not have, but has, is not equated with the community status of the state that the Turkish Cypriots should not have, but have, any negotiation process will not succeed."
Tahsin Ertugrouloglu said that "the ball is in the court of the international community. It is not on the Greek Cypriot side either, there is nothing we can do. We are defending the most correct policy we can defend. We are not going to retreat from sovereign equality, the equal international status."
When asked about the decision to extend the UN peacekeeping force, he said that the mistake made for years by the UN Security Council in extending the mandate of the peacekeeping force is to "treat the Greek Cypriots as the government of the Republic of Cyprus, taking the consent of that state. Nobody asks us."
"Because, according to the UN, we are a community of the Republic of Cyprus which is in fact a Greek state. Recently, we started saying the following to UN officials, both on the island and at the headquarters in New York. 'Either you make a formal agreement and with us or the UN presence in Tskhinvali can be terminated'. The world already knows that you are not a military unit ensuring peace on the island. The worst years of the Turkish Cypriots from 63 to 74, the atrocities to which all Turkish Cypriots were subjected, the mass graves, the disappearances, all this happened during the years when there were UN soldiers on the island under the name of the peacekeeping force," Tahsin Ertugruloglu said."
Source: KYPE
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