Şentop: “Turkey will protect both its own rights and interests and the legitimate rights and interests of the TRNC at all times and by all means in the Eastern Mediterranean”

Pointing out that the source of the problems in the Eastern Mediterranean is Greece and the Greek Cypriot side, the Speaker of the Turkish Grand National Assembly Mustafa Şentop said “Turkey will protect both its own rights and interests and the legitimate rights and interests of the TRNC at all times and by all means in the Eastern Mediterranean”.

In his interview published in Spain’s El Mundo newspaper, Şentop evaluated the Eastern Mediterranean problem and the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) regarding Turkey, as well as the relations between Turkey and Spain.

Upon a question regarding Eastern Mediterranean problem, Şentop said, “There is no doubt that the source of the problems experienced here is Greece and South Cyprus. The things they desire or imagine are requests and demands contrary to international law, the principle of equality and the agreements made, and even to reason and logic”.

Şentop emphasised that Turkey’s stance against Greece, which wants to threaten the coasts of the Aegean and builds up military units on the disarmed islands in violation of international law is clear.

Noting that the main problem in the Eastern Mediterranean is “the maximalist demands and expectations of the Greek-Greek Cypriot duo”, Şentop said “Turkey has always been in favour of dialogue and has taken a stand in favour of solving problems with diplomacy. A solution in the Eastern Mediterranean will only be possible if the Greek side shows a reasonable and conciliatory attitude that it has not shown so far.

Şentop criticised that the European Union (EU) stance on the Eastern Mediterranean “makes a solution impossible” and continued as follows:

“EU member states, a significant part of which are NATO allies of Turkey, do not approach this issue impartially, defend the Greek theses more than Greece, unfortunately, undermine the possibilities for a solution. In this case, Spain will only say to Greece and the Greek Cypriot side that they must abide by the rules of law.”