President Ersin Tatar issues a statement on the 21st Anniversary of the Annan Plan Referendum

President Ersin Tatar released a written statement on the occasion of the 21st anniversary of the Annan Plan referendum.

In his statement, President Tatar stated that although the Turkish Cypriot people voted in favor of the plan supported by the United Nations and the European Union, they gained nothing in return. On the contrary, the Greek Cypriot side, which overwhelmingly rejected the plan, was effectively rewarded. As a result, even the rights of the Turkish Cypriot people stemming from the founding agreements have continued to be disregarded.

President Tatar pointed out that the accession of the Greek Cypriot administration to the European Union has reinforced the Greek Cypriot side’s claim to represent the whole island and has further entrenched the unjust and systematic isolation imposed on the Turkish Cypriot people and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus in every field and on every platform.

He further added that the primary reason for the Cyprus issue remaining unsolved for many years is the Greek Cypriot side’s persistent refusal to acknowledge the will and the equal sovereign rights of the Turkish Cypriot people, as well as their treatment of the Turkish Cypriots not as a political equal, but merely as a so-called minority.