They would not rise to the bait such as occurred in 2004, he said in reference to the separate simultaneous referendums held in Cyprus on 24 April 2004 which resulted in the majority Greek Cypriot population voting down the UN Plan (75.38% against), while the minority Turkish Cypriot population voted for the Plan (64.91% in favour).
Tatar said that the aim was for an agreement where the Turkish and Greek Cypriot communities in Cyprus can live side by side as two states.
Tatar, who was in Turkey for the Eurasian Economic Summit meetings organised by the Marmara Foundation in Istanbul, asked Murat Yetkin in reference to the mooted new Cyprus talks, what crisis was there in Cyprus, when there is bloodshed in the region [Gaza]?
1960’s Agreement
The 1960 agreement, Tatar said, was a good one despite everything, but the Greek Cypriots broke the 1960 agreement first in 1963 with the Bloody Christmas attacks and then in 1974 with the coup d’état of the EOKA militants in collaboration with the military junta in Greece. Turkey exercised its unilateral right to intervene in the 1974 Peace Operation to protect the Turkish Cypriot people.
Now we are saying that we can do better than the 1960 Agreement, said Tatar.
Annan Plan 2004
“There was the Annan Plan experience in 2004. Is that to be revived based on reunification?
“There was a possibility for this [agreement] in 2004. But the European Union ripped-off us and Turkey big time. The Turkish Cypriot side approved the UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s plan. According to this, the embargoes on the TRNC were to be lifted. They were not lifted. The Greek Cypriot side rejected the plan, but as a reward, they were accepted as a member of the EU. We do not want to play this game again.
“We are no longer in any agreement that does not envisage the sovereign equality of the Turkish Cypriot people. We will not negotiate an agreement that ignores our sovereign equality. For a two-state solution, we demand our sovereign equality, which we call the inherent accrued right”, Tatar said.
For full interview click here Yetkin Report
*Murat Yetkin, following other posts began working as the Editor-in-Chief of Hürriyet Daily News in May 2011 and announced that he had left this position as of October 1, 2018. Following which, he started launched a blog page called “Yetkin Report”.