Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar on Sunday warned President Nicos Anastasiades to “not chase dreams that will not become a reality”, adding that a two-state solution is realistic.
He was referring to the speech Anastasiades made to welcome the New Year.
Despite the Archbishop reporting that Anastasiades had spoken about a two-state solution, in his first statement of 2021 he spoke only of a federation and continuing from where the talks in Crans Montana left off, the Turkish Cypriot press reported.
It is well-known, Tatar continued, that Anastasiades believes a two-state solution is realistic. This is well known to those involved in the Cyprus problem, Tatar said, “He said it to the Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglou when they met, Cavusoglu said so”.
But he said Anastasiades is being pressured to stick to his old position by the Church, Akel, Elam and others. In his new year message, Tatar said, Anastasiades repeated what he had written to the UNSG in September 2017, that Turkey is taking steps to annex Cyprus.
In his New Year message, Anastasiades said a comprehensive solution to the Cyprus problem remains top priority. He stressed that the solution “should take into account, in addition to the concerns of the Turkish Cypriot community, the reasonable concerns of the Greek Cypriots.”
It should also ensure the functionality and, consequently, the viability of the state and allow coexistence with mutual respect, in conditions of peace, security, stability and progress, without foreign dependencies, he said. “I conveyed this vision to the UN Secretary-General, but also to the new Turkish Cypriot leader, making clear my determination and political will to participate in a new creative dialogue, based on what has been agreed so far, as part of a new initiative of the Secretary General.”
Anastasiades expressed hope that he would have the support of all political forces in this initiative but gave reassurances that he acknowledges “that the final judge of any agreement will be the Cypriot citizens, to whom I am accountable.”
Tatar said the reality in Cyprus is that the Greek Cypriots and Greece believe that Cyprus is a Greek island and the Turkish Cypriot population is a minority and there is no reason for them to have political equality in the administration of a state. The same reasoning he said leads to the Greek Cypriot belief they are the owners of Cyprus and its natural resources.
He added that it is the fault of the Greek Cypriot that no solution has been found since 1968, saying that in Crans Montana a federal solution was rejected because the Greek Cypriot side does not want a fair solution.
“My appeal to the Greek Cypriot president Anastasiades,” Tatar said “ is not to chase dreams that cannot become reality and to answer positively our appeal for dialogue. My wish is that in 2021 we will find a two-state solution”.
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