President Ersin Tatar on Sunday received former United Nations Peacekeeping Force (UNFICYP) troops who served in Cyprus in 1964.
Tatar reminded that the veterans were sent to the island due to the attacks by Greek Cypriots, who aimed to annex the island to Greece, against the Turkish Cypriots expelled from the Republic of Cyprus in 1960.
He also noted that the Turkish Cypriot people are a sovereign nation with the right to self-determination and stated, “We will never accept being downgraded to a minority.”
Welcoming the delegation consisting of 42 Swedish United Nations Peacekeeping Force veterans, President Tatar thanked the veterans for their visit, reminding that this year marked the 60th anniversary of the United Nations presence on the island of Cyprus.
Pointing out that Turkish Cypriots had been forced out of the 1960 Republic of Cyprus, a partnership state, through the force of arms in December 1963, he said through a 10 year period on the island, Turkish Cypriots were systematically attacked and targeted in many places including Erenköy, Geçitkale, and Yeniboğaziçi.
He said that peace arrived on the island in 1974 with the arrival of Turkish troops.
Tatar also explained that the 1960 Republic remained unlawfully under the control of Greek Cypriots who were recognised by the international community as the island’s legitimate government.
“Since 1963, the rights of the Turkish Cypriot people, who were expelled from the republic, have been usurped by the Greek Cypriot side. The Turkish Cypriot people however have been governing themselves since then under their own state and institutions,” he said.
Tatar also recalled that the Greek Cypriots have rejected all proposals and attempts for a federal settlement since 1974.
“This repeated and exhausted formula has prompted us to table a new solution model on the island, a two-state solution, one that recognises the sovereign equality and equal international status of the Turkish Cypriot people. The Turkish Cypriot people are a sovereign nation with the right to self-determination. We will never accept to be downgraded to a minority,” he said.
Speaking on behalf of the delegation, former UNFICYP peacekeeper Anders Arvidsson thanked President Tatar for accepting them and said that they had visited different parts of the country, reliving memories of their service on the island.
Anders also stated that there are two different peoples with different languages, cultures, and religions on the island, emphasizing that no progress has been made on the solution in the last 60 years, and that recognition is the only way for a solution, which the international community must accept.