President Ersin Tatar said to continue the success achieved as the owners of a state and progressing the status of our state even further is the biggest debt we owe to our children.
President Ersin Tatar issued a message to mark the 1st of August Communal Resistance Day.
In his message the President wrote that in 1571, the Ottoman Empire conquered Cyprus and turned Cyprus into a Turkish homeland, in 1958 the Turkish Resistance Organization (TMT) was established against the fascist EOKA threat and in 1976 the Security Forces Command (GKK) was established.
“Our heroic and self-sacrificing people, under the heaviest conditions of the days of the national struggle, under the leadership of the Turkish Resistance Organization and with the support of the Motherland Türkiye, did not bow down to the Greek Cypriots, did not trample the honour and dignity of our people and prevented Cyprus from becoming a Hellenic island” said Tatar and noted that a heavy price was paid for our independence and freedom.
Explaining that peace came to the whole of Cyprus on the morning of July 20, 1974, Tatar said that the Turkish Cypriot people gained their freedom, independence and their own state under the protection and assurance of Motherland Türkiye.
“For 453 years, the sovereignty and the legitimate rights arising from the sovereignty of the Turkish Cypriot people, who have known this land as their homeland for centuries, cannot be a subject of discussion. Today, our greatest responsibility to our people who live freely and in security in their own state and to new generations is to carry our state to a much higher level with all its institutions and organizations” said Tatar.
“We owe it to our children to continue the success we have achieved as a state owner by carrying the status of our state even further” he added.
Touching upon the Cyprus issue, President Tatar said that since he has come to power he has been working in full harmony with the authorities in Türkiye.
Pointing to the necessity of recognizing the sovereign equality of the two states and the Turkish Cypriot people’s equal international status in order to proceed to formal negotiations, President Tatar said that they have conveyed this to the entire international community.
“As the Turkish Cypriot side, we have always been in favour of diplomacy and dialogue with the support of Türkiye. Although we are in favour of dialogue, this does not mean that we will submit to the dominating and maximalist attitude of the Greek Cypriot side” said Tatar
Referring to the historic speech made by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan at the 77th General Assembly of the UN, calling on all countries to recognize the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, Tatar said that with this call a new era had begun.
“The acceptance of the TRNC as an observer member with its Constitutional name at the 9th summit of the Council of Heads of State of the Organization of Turkic States, of which we are an inseparable part, has also further strengthened us” said Tatar.