Turkish foreign ministry spokesman Oncu Keceli on Thursday night said his country’s government “rejects” the use of terms including “occupation”, “invasion”, and “division” during speeches made at Wednesday night’s opening ceremony of Cyprus’ six-month term as the holder of the Council of the European Union’s rotating presidency.
“These terms are in no way compatible with the historical and current realities on the island. The only ‘occupation’ on the island stems from the Greek Cypriot side’s usurpation of the partnership state’s offices in 1963, in blatant violation of the constitution and the inherent rights of the Turkish Cypriot people,” he said.
He added that the “disregard” shown for “the existence of Turkish Cypriots” by European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and European Council president Antonio Costa in their speeches “once again reveals the EU’s double standards regarding the fundamental humanitarian values it claims to uphold”.
“On the other hand, the fact that the Greek Cypriot side, contrary to the comments it made publicly, has misused its presidency from the very beginning to present its distorted rhetoric and uncompromising positions on the Cyprus issue reveals why the EU cannot be a neutral and constructive actor in the solution of the Cyprus issue,” he said.
It was Costa who had made the most explicit reference in this direction of the EU officials present, saying during his speech on Wednesday that “Cyprus’ own history of occupation and division has given it a very concrete understanding of the crucial value of international law for peace and stability among nations”.
He later added that the EU “cannot accept violations of international law, whether in Cyprus, Latin America, Greenland, Ukraine, or Gaza”.
Von der Leyen, meanwhile, elected not to use the word “invasion” or “occupation”, but did say that “few places in the European Union understand as clearly what it means to live with the consequences of division, and, at the same time, to refuse to let division define the future”.
President Nikos Christodoulides was more explicit in his language, beginning his speech on the night by describing Nicosia as “our continent’s last occupied capital” and saying that Cyprus is “a small and under occupation country”.
He later said that “Cyprus knows firsthand what invasion and occupation means”.
Keceli’s remarks come after Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman had also expressed bemusement at the contents of von der Leyen’s speech, saying that she “ignored” the Turkish Cypriot community.
“We will not ignore being ignored,” he began, saying that “there is not a single line in the text [of von der Leyen’s speech] that mentions Turkish Cypriots”.
He added that von der Leyen had “described how ‘innovators in the field of artificial intelligence are developing the technologies of tomorrow in the shadow of Byzantine churches’ as if the only thing in the history of this island was Byzantium”.
“We absolutely do not have an understanding of ‘let’s ignore it so that our relations do not deteriorate’. For us, the truth is this: ‘let’s not ignore being ignored, let’s show it in every forum so that relations are put on the right footing’,” he said.
To this end, he said that under his leadership, the Turkish Cypriot side “neither avoids meetings, not avoids conveying our thoughts, facts, and truths when we meet”.
To this end, he said there is a need for “confidence-building measures between the EU and Turkish Cypriots” and that he had “already explained our views on the political dimension of the issue and the anomaly regarding Cyprus within the EU at length”.
“I believe that even a simple reconsideration of the text of this speech by EU officials would be enlightening in terms of understanding many of the things we are trying to convey. The Turkish Cypriot people existed, exists, and will continue to exist on this island. It is not only dialogue, patience, and composure that exists. Let no one overlook our determination,” he said.
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