PM Özgürgün: EU will have no Say
in TRNC if Turkey is excluded
Prime Minister Hüseyin Özgürgün has said that the European Union will have no say in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus if Turkey is excluded from the bloc.
The Prime Minister’s words came during an interview to the Anadolu Agency in response to the non-binding motion passed by the European Parliament yesterday urging the European Commission and national governments to temporarily halt membership talks with Turkey.
He said that no one could drag Turkish Cypriots into a situation where Turkey was not present and where they would be under threat of becoming a minority under Greek or Greek Cypriot influence.
“We will never allow this to happen” he said.
Touching upon the Mont Pèlerin talks, Özgürgün said that the Greek Cypriots had negotiated in the presence of the international community to change the balances in their favour.
“Greek Cypriots have never seen Turkish Cypriots as their equals nor do they accept Turkey’s presence or guarantees in Cyprus” he added.
The Prime Minister also accused the Greek Cypriot side of trying to lay the blame of the failure of the Mont Pèlerin talks on Turkey and the Turkish Cypriot side.
“The international community continues to make mistakes on the Cyprus Issue acting unfairly and unjustly against Turkish Cypriots” he said, adding that the international community refused to hold the Greek Cypriot side or Greece accountable for the role they played in the failure of the talks.
He questioned what the purpose of continuing the talks will be if the Greek Cypriot side intends to continue dragging the process.
“We see no point in continuing these negotiations. If these talks will be held just for the sake of holding talks why should we (the Turkish Cypriot side) sit at the negotiating table and waste all our time and energy? The Greek Cypriot side will continue to pursue its strategy of playing for time for years. We will not be able to reach an outcome for years” he said.
Source: BRT World News
I am pleased Turkey is standing up to the EU. Now that Britain and maybe later other countries will want to leave the EU, Turkey would be better off to forget joining the EU.
Nothing new there then!!!!!!!!!