The embargoes and restrictions imposed on the Turkish Cypriots should be lifted: Ersin Tatar

President of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, Ersin Tatar has yet again reiterated the need to accept the sovereign equality and equal international status of Turkish Cypriots before talks on the Cyprus issue can begin.

During his meeting with the UN Secretary-General last Friday, Ersin Tatar, in his statements, argued that the deadlock on the Cyprus issue is also due to UN Security Council Resolution 186 of March 4, 1964.

This resolution recognises the Republic of Cyprus as the legitimate government of the entire island.

In his statements upon returning to the TRNC, Ersin Tatar said (source: Turkish Cypriot press) that things in the Cyprus issue have ‘further complicated the whole matter with UN Security Council Resolution 186 of March 4, recognising the ‘Republic of Cyprus’ as the government of the entire island’.

He also mentioned that this situation continues with the accession of ‘South Cyprus’ to the European Union.

Ersin Tatar also said that he told the Secretary-General that under these conditions, “it would not be right to enter into a negotiating process without confirming our inherent acquired rights stemming from the Founding Agreements of 1960, and we will not accept this. He said he knows this too.”

Elsewhere in his statements, he argued that “there must be a just, permanent, sustainable and practical agreement because today there are two states in Cyprus. There are two peoples, two democracies, two authorities, and this situation has been ongoing for 60 years. Therefore, it is not possible to turn back the clock.”

Tatar sets as a precondition for agreeing to discuss the restart of negotiations the lifting of the so-called embargoes. “The embargoes and restrictions imposed on the Turkish Cypriots should be lifted from now on and the mentality that prevents Turkish Cypriots from meeting with various global institutions and organisations should end. We conveyed to him that this practice against the Turkish Cypriots is a great injustice at a time when democracy and human rights are valued.”

Tatar was quick to blame the Greek Cypriot side for trying to create impressions of progress on the Cyprus issue due to the appointment of the personal envoy of the Secretary-General: “From our side, there was a positive meeting because the Greek Cypriot side is trying to create the impression that a process is starting due to the work of the personal envoy of the Secretary-General, María Ángela Holguín Cuéllar, here. We conveyed that a new process can only start by confirming our new policy based on sovereign equality and equal international status and that if there is to be an agreement in Cyprus, it can only be achieved through the cooperation of two states, and we will not reach an agreement by being patched into the Republic of Cyprus”