Turkish Cypriot leader Tatar: “Never again” without sovereign equality

Ersin Tatar, President of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, said that from now on they will not sit at the table for any agreement that does not envisage the “sovereign equality” of the Turkish Cypriot people. Stating that there cannot be a “Cyprus crisis” as claimed and that they do not rise to the bait like the one in 2004 again, Tatar said that they aim for an agreement where the Turkish and Greek Cypriot peoples on the island can live side by side as two states. Tatar, who was in Türkiye for the Eurasian Economic Summit meetings organized by the Marmara Foundation in İstanbul, answered the questions of YetkinReport.

There is nothing as a “Cyprus Crisis”

– Mr. Tatar, new negotiations are envisaged in the UN under the pretext that they can solve the Cyprus Crisis. You reacted to this. Can you explain the reasons?

– They are talking about the Cyprus Crisis. There has been no conflict in Cyprus since 1974. Except for a few isolated incidents, no one’s nose has bled. What crisis are they talking about in Cyprus when there is bloodshed in the region? The 1960 agreement was a good agreement despite everything, but the Greek Cypriots broke the 1960 agreement first in 1963 with the Bloody Christmas attacks and then in 1974 with the coup d’état of the EOKA militants in collaboration with the military junta in Greece. Türkiye exercised its unilateral right to intervene in the 1974 Peace Operation to protect the Turkish Cypriot people.

Now we are saying that we can do better than the 1960 Agreement.

Tatar: never again

– There was an Annan Plan experience in 2004. Is that to be revived based on reunification?

– There was a possibility for this [agreement] in 2004. But the European Union ripped-off us and Türkiye over big time. The Turkish Cypriot side approved the UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s plan. According to this, the embargoes on the TRNC were to be lifted. They were not lifted. The Greek Cypriot side rejected the plan, but as a reward, they were accepted as a member of the EU. We do not want to play this game again.

We are no longer in any agreement that does not envisage the sovereign equality of the Turkish Cypriot people. We will not negotiate an agreement that ignores our sovereign equality. For a two-state solution, we demand our sovereign equality, which we call the inherent accrued right.

– Before, there was the concept of political equality. How do you define the difference between sovereign equality and political equality?

– Political equality is a demand that can be realized within a federal structure. The policy we have been pursuing for the last three years is that we can move to formal negotiations with the confirmation of our sovereign equality and equal international status. We want a realistic and sustainable agreement based on two states where the Turkish Cypriot people and the Greek Cypriot people will live side by side.

Grateful to Azerbaijan

– Mr. Tatar, during his visit to President Tayyip Erdoğan, President of Azerbaijan İlham Aliyev invited you to his country. But there was no invitation from Kazakhstan for the Summit of Turkic States last year. Will it come from Kyrgyzstan for the 2024 Summit?

– We are pleased that President of Azerbaijan İlham Aliyev invited us to the meeting of Turkic states to be held in July in Shusha. This is important in terms of increasing the visibility of the TRNC. TRNC is an observer member of the Organization of Turkic States, unanimously accepted the proposal of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Kazakhstan did not invite us to the summit they hosted and the Greek Cypriot side claimed that they prevented it. We are waiting for Kyrgyzstan’s invitation to the October Summit. We will gladly go to Azerbaijan.

Although recognition is not easy…

– No country other than Turkey recognizes the TRNC yet. Do you have any hope that there will be a breakthrough in this regard?

– Our struggle for recognition is not easy, but until an agreement is reached based on equality based on sovereignty, it is very important to strengthen the TRNC’s visibility, acceptance, and economic structure. This will strengthen the ground and give our people hope for the future.

We continue our efforts for this with determination. Turkey is with us. Yes, because of these embargoes, our young people have difficulties, our athletes have difficulties, there are problems like these. But we want to live equally and freely in our land.

TRNC President Ersin Tatar gave a confident and relaxed impression during our interview. The “crisis” and “solution” rhetoric, especially coming from the UK and the UN bureaucracy, is far from convincing when there is a real bloodbath in Russia’s war against Ukraine on the one hand and Israel’s Gaza operation on the other. Predictably, the EU will tend to prevent the recognition of the TRNC and not lift the embargoes since the Republic of Cyprus under the Greek Cypriot government is a member of the EU.

Such factors are seemingly forcing the TRNC and Turkey for a paradigm shift, as to to move away from the former “bi-zonal, bi-communal federation” formula to a two-state agreement.