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The Cypriot presidency described the visit of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to the Varosha complex in northern Cyprus … as a provocative and illegal order.
The Cypriot presidency added that the Turkish measures undermine international efforts to resolve the Cyprus problem and expected the European Council to discuss this dossier in December and make decisions on the future of the relationship with Turkey.
Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades said the visit “undermines the UN secretary-general’s efforts to call for an informal five-year dialogue” between Greek and Turkish Cypriots, Athens, Ankara and London, the former colonial power on the island.
Anastasiades said in his statement that such movements “do not contribute to creating an appropriate and positive atmosphere for the resumption of talks to reach a solution” to the Cyprus problem.
Erdogan’s provocation
In turn, the Greek Foreign Ministry condemned Erdogan’s “provocation”. In a forceful statement, he said that “the Turkish president’s scheduled visit to occupied Varosha, accompanied by a government team … an unprecedented provocation” violates United Nations resolutions.
Hundreds of people demonstrated in the northern part of Cyprus on Tuesday to condemn Erdogan’s visit, chanting slogans such as “Do not walk with the pain of others”, “Do not intervene” and “In Cyprus, the word is for the Cypriots.”
In a speech given by Erdogan during a provocative and controversial visit to the northern part of Cyprus occupied by Ankara, Erdogan said that talks on the divided island should be aimed at reaching an agreement on the basis of “two separate states.” “There are two separate peoples and states in Cyprus, and the talks must be conducted on the basis of two separate states,” he said.
A Turkish exploration ship and a Turkish military vessel off Cyprus in the eastern Mediterranean
Erdogan’s visit came on the anniversary of the unilateral declaration of the “Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus” on November 15, 1983, and only Ankara can afford it, while hopes that the island’s unifying habit wanes with the rise to power of the Tartars, who support a “two-state” solution.
According to the official Turkish news agency (Anatolia), Erdogan’s visit comes amid an atmosphere of severe tension on the island, and the Republic of Cyprus condemned it as an “unprecedented provocation”.
The Turkish president reiterated his statement about “continuing prospecting and exploration activities in the eastern Mediterranean until a fair agreement is reached.”
Erdogan said: “Stability has been achieved on the island thanks to the military peace process that Turkey implemented in 1974 after the Romanian side intensified its massacres and attacks, but there are still political problems.”
And he indicated that the Turkish side “showed a very strong will in this regard from the beginning, put forward constructive ideas and made sincere efforts, but the solution cannot be achieved with the efforts of one party.”
Erdogan stressed that “the European Union has not kept its promises regarding the situation on the island, nor has it provided administrative and financial support to northern Cyprus, and continues to lie to this day.”
