TRNC News 14.2.2017 – Akinci: “Negotiations will lose their meaning if no steps taken on enosis issue”
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Akıncı: “The negotiations will lose their meaning if no steps are taken on enosis issue”
President Mustafa Akıncı has expressed his disappointment regarding the decision by the Greek Cypriot parliament to mark the 1950 Enosis Plebiscite at Greek Cypriot schools to the UN Secretary General’s Special Representative Elizabeth Spehar.
Akıncı stated that if the Greek Cypriot side does not take any steps on this issue, the negotiation process will lose its meaning. Imposing Enosis to the Greek Cypriot youth is a serious blow to the negotiations, Akıncı said, and added that if the Greek Cypriot parliament will not reverse its decision, the agenda of the leaders’ meeting on Thursday will be dominated by this issue. Akıncı also noted that he will wait to see the response by the Greek Cypriot leader Nikos Anastasiades ahead of their scheduled meeting on Thursday.
President Akıncı stated that the expected meeting of the negotiators today most likely would not be held.
President Akıncı also held an urgent telephone conversation with the UN Secretary General’s Special Advisor Espen Barth Eide and requested their assistance in order to prevent the Greek Cypriot leader Anastasiades from signing the decision of the Parliament. Akıncı emphasized in his call that the decision of the Greek Cypriot parliament to commemorate the Enosis referendum is in direct contradiction to the solution target.
Parliament issues unanimous declaration condemning the Greek Cypriot enosis decision
Speaker of the Assembly Sibel Siber has issued a statement on behalf of the Parliament strongly condemning the move by the Greek Cypriot side to bring forward the Enosis issue while efforts to solve the Cyprus issue are ongoing, and requested the UN to launch an initiative for the decision to be retracted by the Greek Cypriot parliament.
The declaration was prepared with the support of all political parties represented in the parliament as well as independent deputies. The General Assembly of the Parliament convened under the presidency of the Speaker of the Assembly Sibel Siber.
Turkish Cypriot politicians from all political groups have strongly criticised the decision taken by the Greek Cypriot House of Representatives to introduce the 1950 ‘Enosis Day’ in schools in South Cyprus.
The declaration stated that the Turkish Cypriot people, despite having lived through the bitter experiences of the past, have always supported a settlement that will ensure that these experiences are not relived. “The Turkish Cypriot people voted in favour of the Annan Plan and has since kept its will for a settlement alive”.
The TRNC Assembly, in line with the people’s will, has continually supported a settlement, adopting numerous resolutions in support of a solution on the basis of UN parameters. Most recently, the Assembly supported the 11th of February 2014 Joint Declaration as signed by both leaders.
This decision by the Greek Cypriot parliament to mark the 1950 Enosis Plebiscite at Greek Cypriot schools is in direct contradiction to the 11th of February 2014 Joint Declaration as well as fundamentally undermining the ongoing Cyprus negotiations process.
“It must be known that this decision has been perceived as an act of disrespect to the main philosophy of the negotiations, has deepened Turkish Cypriot peoples’ mistrust and raised doubts regarding the Greek Cypriot Side’s intention and goodwill towards reaching a settlement on the basis of UN parameters” the declaration read.
The statement also condemned the decision in the presence of the UN, urging it to launch an initiative to persuade the Greek Cypriot side to retract the decision, which it described as a historic mistake that could have “irreversible consequences”.
Raşit Pertev is official candidate of Turkey for the presidency of IFAD
Turkey’s official candidate for the presidential election of the Governing Council of IFAD is Raşit Pertev. Alongside Pertev, Bambang Brodjonegoro from Indonesia, Maria Eugenia Cesar Perez from Mexico, Paolo De Castro from Italy, Ismhane Elouafi from Morocco, Gilbert Fossoun Houngbo from Togo and Josefine Stubbs from Dominican Republic will compete for the presidency. The President of the IFAD is appointed for four years with a term-limit.
IFAD was created in 1977, and since then has focused exclusively on rural poverty reduction, working with the local populations in developing countries to eliminate poverty, hunger and malnutrition; raise their productivity and incomes; and improve the quality of their lives.
The 40th meeting of the Governing Council, in which financial policies are determined on agriculture and rural areas in the world, will start tomorrow to appoint the new President. In accordance with the Agreement Establishing IFAD, the Governing Council of IFAD will appoint the President at its annual meeting on 14-15 February 2017. The appointed President will take office on 1 April 2017. Turkey’s official candidate Raşit Pertev is supported by the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and many farmers’ organizations.
Source: TRNC Public Information Office –
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Pictures shown are courtesy of the TRNC Public Information Office Facebook page.
As I said previously these talks are getting no where – now is the time for the President and all his fine men to negotiate for an independent Northern Cyprus – you don’t need the Souths negativity over important issues – go for it! Surely all the support you have from other countries can see you are hitting your head against a brick wall.
This seems to be another puerile tactical behaviour on the part of Greeks to show their total disrespect to the whole peace negotiation process with the Turks over the Cyprus deal. The negotiation effort has become a farce, an embarrassment. They will not compromise with the Turks as history tells us. Not only did they try to wipe us out in the past but since 1974 they have taken every conceivable step to erase any traces or legacy of us on the island of Cyprus.
We have remained invisible and have not been recognised or accepted by any nation. Just forget the important fact that the Ottomans ruled the island for over five hundred years. It is still unbelievable that they so obviously wish to negate our existence by totally ignoring us. They spend all their energy blocking any attempts by the Turkish Cypriots to promote holidays etc.and they win because immediately all the posters on the British buses promoting Northern Cyprus are removed. Just like that, because they wish it so. People in great numbers don’t know how to get a flight to Northern Cyprus and they won’t. If they were to accept us as equals then that would actually mean that we would have rights too. So they deny our existence.
Remember the Elgin marbles coming up regularly in the British press with demands from the Greeks. They will never forget. It’s about time that the Turks in Northern Cyprus realise this. We were not the instigators of the war in Cyprus we were just trying to live peacefully. Are we totally blinded by the fact that all Greeks want to do is make Cyprus a part of Greece and there is no deviation from that. They make that loud and clear by sending us on a wild goose chase and having a laugh at our expense.
We don’t need to go back with a cap in hand to plead our case in order to be accepted, or respected by the Greeks. We were the ones that were slaughtered and neglected for all those years living in fear of our lives. Is it any surprise that so many Turks emigrated to Europe and elsewhere. Did it have something to do with the fact that we were unable to sleep safely in our own beds. Were we not left in Turkish enclaves too afraid to do anything. Even having to go to hospitals was an ordeal because we were physically searched at every check point and these used to get blocked for days on end. I know because I missed my first and only chance to dance on stage with my favourite partner, a boy, at my first year at school on Children’s day commemorated on the 23rd of April. I was heart broken. This of course only affected the Turks as these control zones only worked one way, and it was against the Turks as they happened to be the undesirables. If you wore a uniform and especially if you worked for the British then you might suddenly disappear. I know, we were there. Why are we in the minority, is it any wonder? They wanted us off the island and we fled because our rights were taken away we were not accepted. They wanted Enosis.
Thank goodness Turkey intervened. They helped because they knew what was happening while the rest of the world looked on. No offer of help from anyone then, what a surprise!. We shouldn’t apologise for our existence. Our rights should be recognised and respected.
Thank you for your comment which has now been published against this article for our readers to view.
Such is the strength of your passion and clarity of the facts about the background of the Cyprus issue that we would like to publish this in an article tomorrow as it will without doubt reach out to many more people and I trust this meets with your approval.
Brilliant comment!
Pınar Wheeler you have excellently voiced your feelings on the issue of how unfaır the situation has been for Turkish Cypriots. The Cypriot Greek political propaganda had the run of the mill for a long tıme, We should stand against it and make our voice heard around the World. Thanks, Cyprus Scene.
Well said Sermen, the RoC is becoming isolated and cannot think and act outside of the box to maintain their past control of the situation.
If the UN, the EU and World does nothing to counter this RoC engineered impasse, then clearly they also wish the Turkish Cypriots to be disadvantaged for ever.
Pınar thanks for your comment , I just wish that many more people knew the facts about the situation in Cyprus….
My comment on this particular issue is this…. no matter what the greek cypriots do now regarding the enosis issue…. even if the decision to celebrate it in schools is withdrawn we all now know what the greek cypriot elected representativesreally think and want…and that is enosis… they do not want to share the island with turkish cypriots !! I for one will never trust anything that the greek cypriot leadership and negotiators say!! their insistance regarding the removal of guarantees to my mind proves they do not have honourable intentions….