Warlike rhetoric from the foreign minister damages the tourism sector in the TRNC, head of the Turkish Cypriot hoteliers’ union (KITOB), Fethi Ozbogac has said.
Last Friday, Foreign Minister Tahsin Ertugruloglu stated, inter alia, at a press conference that “if the Greek Cypriot side continues insisting on its unilateral oil exploration activities in the Eastern Mediterranean, they are ready to respond and to give the necessary reply”. “If it is necessary, they would be hit”, said the foreign minister.
The chairman of the hoteliers’ union said that Ertugruloglu’s statements were “unfortunate”. Pointing out that in the latest international dispute between Turkey and the Netherlands, tourism in Turkey had suffered.
“Dialogue is the way for solving problems”, Ozbogac said, calling for “rhetoric of war” between the politicians not to be used again. “All kind of war rhetoric no matter why, where or when it is expressed, damages the image of Cyprus and its tourism sector”, he added.
Yeni Bakis
