Prime Minister Ersin Tatar announced on Tuesday that beaches fronting the fenced off city of Maraş will open on Thursday.
“We see the Maraş issue as a national cause, which is above politics,” Tatar said, speaking at a joint press conference with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan at the Presidential Complex in Ankara.
The two leaders met in the Turkish capital for the inauguration ceremony of the Turkey-TRNC water pipeline following the completed repair work.
“God willing, we will start to use the Maraş beach on Thursday morning together with our people,” Tatar said. He added opening the coastal zone was the first concrete step on their road map for Maraş. Tatar also added that Maraş was TRNC soil and that reopening the fenced-off town was one of the promises made by the coalition government to the people.
“Work on re-opening Maraş has come to a certain point. We are taking our first concrete step. We are physically opening Democracy Avenue, the beachfront and coastline to the public,” he added.
During his joint press conference with Ersin Tatar, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said, “It is a fact that Maraş is an area of the TRNC. We hope that the entirety of Maraş will be opened for use.”
He said that Ankara was ready to give every kind of support to the TRNC towards that end. “The objections of the opponent are futile, as there is no possibility for complaints being filed due to the lack of private property [in the area]. As the TRNC grows, it becomes richer and stronger, the chain of sanctions imposed on it will gradually begin to break,” he said.
Referring to the Greek Cypriot side, Erdoğan said that the objections of the opposing party have already been in vain, as there will be no victimization due to the absence of any private property [in Maraş]. He said that the move would be of great significance for Turkish Cypriots. “Until today, it was always the Turkish Cypriots who have shown patience. Unfortunately, this patience was not reflected. It is now understood that there is no room for a comprehensive solution. It is time to create a new road map on the new realities. Maraş belongs to the Turkish Cypriots,” Erdoğan added.
BRT
