Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan sent a video message to the “Eastern Mediterranean Workshop” which was organised by the International Council of Universities and Akdeniz University.
Erdoğan said: “We are following the process very closely both to guarantee our own interests and to protect the rights of our brothers in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.”
“We do not want to usurp anyone’s rights or law. We display an upright stance against pirates’ mentality which try to usurp our rights. In fact, Turkey has shown its determination by what we have experienced in the last few months.” Erdoğan added.
Stressing that Turkey has never supported tension in the Eastern Mediterranean but supports peace, cooperation, fairness and justice, Erdoğan continued:
“In this regard, Turkey has maintained its calmness despite all the waywardness of Greece and the Greek Cypriot Administration since 2003. Today, we continue our same conciliatory attitude. The European Union should eliminate the strategic blindness as soon as possible and also the EU should not be unfair to Turkey and the Turkish Cypriots anymore under the name of solidarity.”
Reminding that the proposal of Turkey regarding holding a conference in which all regional riparian countries to the Eastern Mediterranean and Turkish Cypriots take place is still on the table, Erdoğan said: “Turkey expects their interlocutors to support the proposal of Turkey. I believe that if they act with common sense and sincerity, we can find a win-win based formula that protects everyone’s rights.”
Source: TRNC Public Information Office
