The Europe Orient East-West Friendship Rally final being held in the TRNC
30 May, 2019UBP-HP Government programme to be debated today
30 May, 2019Turkish Deputy Foreign Minister and Director for EU Affairs, Ambassador Faruk Kaymakçı stated that the EU has a biased and unfair attitude towards Cyprus and Greece and added that it does not mean anything in terms of Turkey.
Kaymakçı made an evaluation to the press and reacted to the Turkey report that was released within the scope of the EU Commission’s 2019 enlargement package. He also underlined that it is not possible for Turkey to accept the claims defending the Greek Cypriot Administration and Greece thesis in the report.
Kaymakçı said: “No member of the EU has the right or the authority to determine any border with another country. The borders of any country cannot be determined by the EU for the sake of the Greek Cypriot side or Greece”.
Kaymakçı said that Turkey’s activities in the Eastern Mediterranean was based on legitimate rights stemming from international law, stressing that the EU must exercise common sense on the issue.
Reminding that it had been a great mistake to have allowed the Greek Cypriot Administration to join the EU before a settlement had been reached in Cyprus, Kaymakçı said that the EU needed to warn its own members as well if it wanted to act constructively on the matter.
“Turkey has the longest coastline in the Eastern Mediterranean and has rights based on its continental shelf. The TRNC has its own legitimate rights around the island. We shall continue to protect those rights. We will not refrain from taking appropriate measures and steps regarding the issue. Furthermore; Turkey supports a lasting bi-communal solution on the island based on the political equality of the two sides”.
Stating that a one-sided perspective based on the Greek Cypriot side’s positions will not contribute to a solution on the island and will threaten peace and stability in the region, Kaymakçı said that the EU had made a grave mistake by bringing the Cyprus problem into the European Union. “This mistake is leading to other problems,” he added.