Leader of the main opposition Republican Turkish Party (CTP) Tufan Erhürman made a statement on social media after the details of the Economic and Financial Cooperation Agreement signed between Turkey and the TRNC were published in the Official Gazette, Kibris Postasi reported.
Erhürman said, “This is not an ‘economic and financial cooperation agreement’“.
Emphasizing that many of the articles in the protocol have nothing to do with economic development, Erhürman stated that a large part of this protocol is not an ‘economic and financial cooperation agreement’. Erhürman said, “This is a protocol about the reorganisation of the administrative structure of the TRNC, the making some of the fundamental rights and freedoms in the TRNC Constitution unusable, and the narrowing of others“. He said protocol is not an economic and financial cooperation agreement, “Is it the Republic of Turkey that will tell us if its constitutional structure is to be reorganized? This is absolutely not acceptable. The Turkish Cypriot people are not a people under tutelage”, Erhürman said.
His statement reads as follows:
“This is, at the most, self-management, standing on one’s own feet, protecting the institutional structure, ensuring the planned development of the country, protecting fundamental rights and freedoms, keeping the business people, tradesmen, public and private sector workers alive, at the same time. [This is a] Protocol to give up the will to establish good relations on the right ground between Turkey and the TRNC!
“I don’t know if you read it before signing, did you understand if you read it, if you understood, did you care that a significant part of it did not suit this country/this people/this economy! As usual, I don’t know if you said, “The important thing is the signing ceremony! Let’s sign, we won’t do it anyway!
But everyone now knows that you do not care about this country, this people, and that your only concern is the seats you sit on! From now on, Parliament is in more streets, more streets are in Parliament! Let’s talk about these commitments you have made for the sake of the seat, without consulting anyone, without resorting to the will of the people, let’s see who you can tell!”
