President Eroglu has said that speculation that Turkish settlers would be repatriated to the mainland if an agreement on the Cyprus problem is reached is “not correct.”
Eroglu said that comments made by the Greek Cypriot side that in case of a possible agreement, Turkey’s guarantees will be abolished, the Turkish army will be withdrawn and the Turkish settlers will leave the island did not “reflect the truth”.
The president said that even though the world does not recognise them, the Turkish Cypriots have a state which is recognised by Turkey and reiterated the statement that citizenship is granted by their government according to their constitution.
Speaking to Anatolia news agency, the president said that:
“The comments of the Greek Cypriots on this issue are wrong. The Turkish army cannot leave this place. Because the treaties of alliance and guarantees is an agreement signed together by three states. Therefore, all three states must decide unanimously. If it is taken into consideration that this is a red line for Turkey, this will not happen”.
This seems a little bit like comments pursuing a dream and made in a manner that will satisfy their people, of course, because they could not secure some developments in the text of the joint declaration on which they have been insisting until today and because they could not materialise their views”.
Referring to the joint statement, Eroglu said that there were issues in it which satisfied him and said that the important thing was “a bi-zonal, bi-communal partnership which will be established by two founding states of equal status”. Noting that none of the sides were fully satisfied by the joint declaration, Eroglu alleged that in the agreement, they “got the acceptance by the Greek Cypriot side” that “the constituent states which will be established are sovereign” and they also imposed their own sovereignty by “putting forward that “the sovereignty of the new partnership state will originate from these constituent states”.
Greek Cypriot peace negotiator, Andreas Mavroyiannis will table the question of the Turkish settlers during his visit to Ankara next week, sources say.
South Cyprus’ state radio reported on Thursday night that settlers and Famagusta would be the main topics of discussion during the ground-breaking visit.
