President Ersin Tatar issued a message to mark the 10th of December, International Human Rights Day.

In his message, Tatar said that the United Nations had declared the 10th of December to emphasize the need to respect and value human rights, but that he wanted to use this opportunity to remind the UN that there are two peoples in Cyprus and that the Turkish Cypriot people have a say on the Island just as much as the Greek Cypriot people.

Referring to the Cyprus problem in his message, Tatar noted the

exclusion of the Turkish Cypriot people from the state structure that started with massacres in 1963 and the isolation they experienced after 1974 are unacceptable.

He said that although human rights are emphasized so much in the United Nations and the European Union, the embargoes experienced by the Turkish Cypriot people in Cyprus and the forced acceptance of the federation structure are behaviours against human rights.

The President also emphasized that it is unacceptable for the EU and the UN to talk about human rights while watching the inhumane events taking place in Gaza.