President Ersin Tatar stated that the Greek Cypriot sides aim is to turn Pile into a completely Greek Cypriot village and said that they will not allow this to be realized. .

Noting that they will eventually complete the road construction from Yiğitler to Pile, Tatar emphasized that they hope the problem will be solved through diplomatic means.

President Ersin Tatar evaluated to the Anadolu Agency the tensions that emerged due to the road construction works initiated by the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) for the mixed village of Pile, located on the Green Line controlled by the United Nations.

He stated that the UN’s attitude, which was influenced by the Greek Cypriots was regrettable and said, “The aim of the Greek Cypriots is for Pile to be a completely Greek Cypriot village. They want to make life difficult for the Turkish Cypriots in Pile and make them migrate to Lefkoşa or Gazimağusa”.

He added that the Greek Cypriot side wants to cleanse Pile of Turkish Cypriots.

Explaining that roads have been built from Pile to Larnaca, which is under the control of the Greek Cypriot administration, and these were built by passing through the buffer zone, Tatar stated that construction works were carried out in the buffer zone and a university was built.

“How did this happen? Developments took place in that area with an agreement. So it just goes to show you that there are no problems when the Greek Cypriots do it but when we do something we get such an attitude” said Tatar.

Explaining that travelling from the existing road connecting Pile to the TRNC town of Beyarmudu normally takes 10 minutes, but that this time increases to an hour due to customs procedures and traffic at the crossing point, Tatar noted that even hospital patients who want to cross to the TRNC from Pile lose time at the customs gate and that for this reason the Pile-Yiğitler Road Project was put into practice.

Also touching upon the complaints they received from Turkish Cypriots living in Pile, who believe that they have been forgotten by their state, Tatar said “We have struggled diplomatically for 25 years for the construction of this road and to provide services to our own citizens. The UN has stalled us for 25 years. They hoped that by stalling us, we would give up”.

Explaining that they did not want the incidents between the UN Peacekeeping Force soldiers and the TRNC police on August 18 to take place, but that the UN soldiers tried to show the area, which is TRNC land in the region, as if it is included within the Green Line, Tatar said, “There is an authority here. This authority has police and military. We cannot allow them to show the TRNC’s land as though it is inside the Green Line.”