‘Turkish Cypriots will not submit to blackmail, threats’

By Muhammed Ikbal Arslan

LEFKOSA, Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (AA) - Turkish Cypriot President Ersin Tatar on Wednesday slammed remarks made by Greek Cypriot leader Nicos Anastasiades in Brussels during his meeting with EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell.

Noting that Anastasiades threatened to block any decision to trigger a “positive agenda” at a European Union summit in June where Turkish-EU relations are expected to be discussed if his side’s conditions are not met, Tatar said in a statement that they will never accept such conditions.

The conditions put forward by Anastasiades, including Turkey’s halting of drilling operations in the Eastern Mediterranean, the Turkish side’s stopping renovation work in the city of Maras, and Turkey and the TRNC’s abandoning the proposition of a two-state solution to the Cyprus issue constitute blackmail and threats to the European Union, Turkey and the TRNC, he underlined.

“We will not submit to the Greek Cypriots’ hegemonic attitude. As such, we will not abandon our proposal of a two-state solution which we put forward in Geneva and is supported by Turkey, the biggest and most powerful country in the region,” Tatar said.

He also remarked that the partial reopening of Maras and work related to natural gas reserves in the Eastern Mediterranean would continue.

Referring to the EU’s position, Tatar underscored that the EU’s acceptance of the Greek Cypriot administration to full membership for political reasons and its pro-Greek Cypriot policy emboldened the Greek Cypriots and prompted them to employ blackmail and threats as policy tools.

“We wish the EU to react against conditions presented by the Greek Cypriots, to abandon its biased attitude and be just,” he said.

Cyprus issue

Cyprus has been mired in a decades-long struggle between Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots, despite a series of diplomatic efforts by the UN to achieve a comprehensive settlement.

The island has been divided since 1964, when ethnic attacks forced Turkish Cypriots to withdraw into enclaves for their safety. In 1974, a Greek Cypriot coup aiming at Greece’s annexation led to Turkey’s military intervention as a guarantor power. The TRNC was founded in 1983.

The Greek Cypriot administration, backed by Greece, became a member of the EU in 2004, although most Greek Cypriots rejected a UN settlement plan in a referendum that year, which had envisaged a reunited Cyprus joining the EU.

*Writing by Ahmet Gencturk