“Tatar should apologize to African students” - EMU and METU organized body said in joint statement

Organized bodies from METU and EMU, METU NCC, CAMPUS-SEN and EMU-SEN has called on TRNC Prime Minister, Ersin Tatar to tender an apology to African students in the island over his comment.

The group made the call in a joint statement on Friday where it criticized the Prime Minister for his statement. 

In a televised interview on March, 20, TRNC Prime Minister Ersin Tatar said;

Whoever brought these people has their responsibility. If the university brought it, if it came for study. Before this crisis, this situation was a problem, now it stands before us as a bigger problem. This may be an opportunity to clear them. This is not racism, but we have to protect our own citizens.

The joint statement reads;

As CAMPUS-SEN (METU Northern Cyprus Campus Staff Union) and EMU-SEN (Eastern Mediterranean University Academic Staff Union), we find the statements and attitude of Prime Minister Ersin Tatar unacceptable. Mr. Ersin Tatar should apologize to the African students he has targeted.
As a result of the devoted promotional activities of TRNC universities, students come to our island from many countries, including African countries. It is also known that these international students make great contributions to universities and the TRNC economy in general. Our African students are entrusted to us in Cyprus like our other students. These students face many difficulties, including racism, are subjected to ill-treatment every day and try to deal with these problems away from their families. Under the extraordinarily difficult conditions created by the corona virus, the problems of these students have increased. In an environment like this, while all of us, without recognizing religion, language, and origins, are waiting for relaxing words, support and steps to solve problems from the authorities, our African students are personalized by the Prime Minister,
Today, we are facing a unifying and solidarizing attitude that embraces universal human values, rather than such discriminatory and offensive statements from the heads of government these days when we have gone through a major crisis in the history of humanity. (Not 100% translated from Turkish)