A two-state solution based on sovereign equality will be proposed at the informal 5 + 1 conference, scheduled for late February or early March, Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar said.
In an interview with the illegal TAK, Mr. Tatar said that the negotiation for the federation can not start from where he stayed in Crans Montana, adding that they will not accept such a thing. He also said that many different parties want an agreement in Cyprus.
"It is an agreement for stability and a more secure future, which we obviously lack," he said, adding that "we will go to the negotiations for this agreement." At the same time, however, he noted that this agreement goes through the recognition of the sovereignty of the "state" of the Turkish Cypriots.
Mr. Tatar said that the chief negotiator for the Turkish Cypriot side will be Ergun Olgun and that they will go to the meetings with an experienced group, adding that the date and the place of the informal pentagon have not been finalized yet.
"We will go to this informal 5 + 1 conference to express our positions. This is our position, it is clear and unequivocal ", he said, adding that in order for the agreement to be accepted, the approval of both sides is needed and one side is the Turkish Cypriots.
"I will say and demand what I have to say for the good of my" people ". Let's see where the process will go after that. We are determined to maintain our position in this process in order to protect the rights and interests of the Turkish Cypriot "people". "The Republic of Turkey will undoubtedly support us in the best possible way," he said.
Noting that the role of the UN in the negotiations is to regulate all this in the context of goodwill, Mr. Tatar said that "of course what we are being told is that` the (UN) power is based on the principles and parameters set by the UN Security Council. According to him, these parameters are "bi-zonal, bi-communal federation. But we have passed this phase. For the first time, the formula of the two states is discussed. People listen to us and evaluate it. How can the two sides come together? How can a compromise be found? "These are called," he said.
"One should not forget that one of the founding partners of the Republic of Cyprus is the Turkish Cypriots. That is why they (the Greek Cypriots) do not have more rights than us in this country. The issue of majority - minority is invalid. "There is no such practice anywhere in the world," he said. He gave the example of the EU, saying that "Greek Cypriots, who do not have a population of one million can dominate the world like Germany, can cause discomfort in Turkey."
He argued that the Turkish Cypriots, who are one of the two founding partners of the KD, "are a separate" people "and according to UN conventions, a people should not be dominated by other peoples. "For us, our position is always that we, as a separate 'people', have the right to determine our own future." He referred to the 1960 Agreement and the 1974 Population Exchange Agreement as well as the Annan Plan, where "we went and voted to determine our own future".
According to Mr. Tatar, "we are Turks, we are Muslims, we have our own language, we have our own religion." These people, he said, "have established their own state and we are moving forward steadily. "It would not be appropriate after this hour to laugh at some promises and reconcile our 'state' and sovereignty."
He said that they want the cooperation of two states, one next to the other, on the basis of sovereign equality and added that "the key to this strategy and attitude is that we have already proposed that there are two separate" peoples "in Cyprus."
He also mentioned that he has listed this position to foreign ambassadors and representatives he has met. "There have been many meetings here, how many times the UN, the EU, the UK has come. We are never told `you are wrong`. "They respect our views," he said.
He added that he also expressed these views in a teleconference he had with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres on Monday. He said that when he reminded Mr Guterres of the Turkish Cypriots' "Yes" and the fact that the Greek Cypriots became an EU member despite their negative vote, Guterres told him that "it was an injustice to the Turkish Cypriots".
He also announced an illegal visit to the occupied territories by Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoλουlu and a visit to Cyprus by British Foreign Secretary Dominique Raab in February. He said that Mr. Tsavousoglou will go to Cyprus on February 2 and that Mr. Raab will visit him on February 4, and that the latter called him to congratulate him and that they had a half-hour conversation.
Source: KYPE