President Ersin Tatar has highlighted the importance of a two-state solution in Cyprus for the existence of the Turkish Cypriot people.

The president delivered a speech at the Special Forces Command on Monday titled, “Turkish Cypriot history and two sovereign and equal states.”

Addressing servicemen at the Cyprus Turkish Security Forces’ Special Forces Command on Monday, President Ersin Tatar said that never in the history of Cyprus had the island been ruled or administered by the Greek-Greek Cypriot duo.

He said that there were records and documents proving that the British had promised to return Cyprus to Ottoman rule in the event it withdrew from the island.

“After its annexation by the British in 1914, the island remained under British sovereign rule for 37 years from 1923-1960 as part of the Treaty of Lausanne. We have always seen Cyprus as our homeland and we struggled against Greek aspirations to make the island part of the Greek mainland. Cyprus had remained under Turkish rule for 357 years. That is the longest reign of any nation on the island,” Tatar said.

The president also explained that the island’s population balance had tipped in favour of Greek Cypriots after Cyprus was handed over to the British with many Turks emigrating to Anatolia.

“Nevertheless we have sovereign rights stemming from the 1960 agreements. Our sovereignty is not only on land by extends to the seas around the island as well,” he said, adding that Greece, which was a much smaller country than Türkiye, was aiming to achieve superiority in the seas by extending its sovereignty.

Tatar also explained how the Greek Cypriots were refusing to take up the Turkish Cypriot side’s offer to cooperate in areas such as electricity and water out of fear this would lead to the recognition of the Turkish Cypriot people’s sovereignty.

“We could join the current interconnected electricity grids of the two sides on the island with Türkiye via cable thus invest in solar energy production on the island at a wider scale,” he said.

Regarding a settlement on the island, President Ersin Tatar drew attention to the dangers a federal settlement posed for Turkish Cypriots following the Greek Cypriot side’s admittance to the European Union.

“They aim to remove Türkiye’s and the Turkish Cypriot side’s sovereign rights through an EU based solution model where the majority will rule over the minority, where there will be no guarantees or no troops,” he said.

Tatar said that Cyprus was paramount for Türkiye’s security as was Türkiye was for the Turkish Cypriot people’s security.

“That is why it is out of the question to remove the system of guarantees. We will never surrender our sovereign rights to the Greek Cypriots”, he said.