Tatar “We will not bow to threats and blackmail”
27 May, 2021Çavuşoğlu: “The vision of the Turkish side is to establish a cooperation relationship between the two states on the Island”
31 May, 2021President Ersin Tatar stated that besides the balance between Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots in Cyprus and the Eastern Mediterranean, the balance between Turkey and Greece is also important and should be preserved.
Making a statement to the Turkish Agency Cyprus (TAK), Tatar said that an agreement to be made should be sustainable, permanent, comprehensive and fair.
Tatar said, “In my opinion, the key to meet all these conditions is our sovereignty. Two equal, sovereign states can live side by side. If we can achieve this, it will be the best for both Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots”.
Emphasising that they suggested cooperation of the two states based on sovereign equality living side by side, Tatar said, “When we say cooperation, we say that we can cooperate in all kinds of issues such as the using of energy resources to external contact, environmental and water policies, criminal events, and many kinds of other issues”.
Pointing out that it is important to maintain the balance between Turkey and Greece as well as the Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots in Cyprus and the Eastern Mediterranean, and that attention has been paid to this since the 1960 agreements, President Tatar drew attention to the new situation with the UK’s Brexit and continued:
“The Cyprus issue has always gone through critical processes. Again, it is going through a critical process. But when we look at it as a result, there is a success. We are going through a new process. In this process, the two-state solution has been put forth.”
Tatar also said that with the decrease in the cases in South Cyprus, it is now time to open the border gates.
“The border gates were closed with the initiative of the Greek Cypriot side. In my opinion, it even happened for political reasons. There is some economic flow here and they wanted to stop it. There are many initiatives in this regard and we find it appropriate to open the border gates depending on certain conditions” Tatar pointed out.