During his visit to the Turkish-occupied north of Cyprus on Saturday, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan reiterated the well-known and entrenched position of Ankara regarding the illegally occupied north of European Union member state Cyprus.
“We, the Turkish nation and the Turkish Cypriots, are the owners of this land. Whoever doesn’t know this must learn it. Whoever hasn’t heard it must hear it,” Erdogan stressed pledging that Turkey’s occupation of northern Cyprus will last “for centuries.”
“If the unjust isolation to which the “Turkish Cypriot people” [sic] are subjected is not ended, if there is no just, permanent, viable and realistic solution on the island, it is not possible for us to accept the “Greek Cypriot Administration of Southern Cyprus” – as referred to in the Republic of Cyprus – as an interlocutor, to trade, to let them use our ports”.
Making reference once again to a two-state solution to the Cyprus problem, he stated that “if there is a new negotiation process, it will no longer be between two communities but between two states with sovereign equality,” Erdogan underlined for one more time.
The provocative statements of the Turkish President come a day after an informal dinner between the Greek Foreign Minister Giorgos Gerapetritis and his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan, and during a long period of time during which Athens speaks of “calm waters” between the two neighboring countries.
Prompt was the response of the Greek diplomacy to Erdogan with diplomatic sources commenting to media “Every action to create a fait accompli in the occupied territories “constitutes an extremely negative development.”
“At a time when a significant effort by the United Nations Secretary General is expended on the Cyprus issue, through the restart of informal talks and the appointment of Ms Maria Angela Holguin Cuéllar as personal envoy, every action to create a fait accompli in the occupied territories constitutes an extremely negative development,” the diplomatic sources said specifically.
The sources also clarified that “the consistent goal is Cyprus’ reunification under the agreed-upon United Nations framework, for the benefit of all Cypriots as well as of international peace and security.”
PS Whoever believes or has a glimpse of hope that the state policy of Turkey towards the occupied North of Cyprus will ever change is dramatically deluded.
