Turkey’s tough Cyprus stance aired in Brussels
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan appears to have told his European counterparts about his country’s tough stance on the Cyprus problem during last week’s informal meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels.
Fidan argued that “any solution that the Greek Cypriots do not accept is not accepted.”
“I ask you, what will be the result of negotiating with this logic? The Annan plan, drawn up by the UN and supported by the EU, was rejected. What happens if such a plan is rejected again? You could not fulfill the promises you made to the Turkish Cypriots after the Annan referendum; what will happen to them?” he reportedly told his counterparts.
Fidan emphasized that the issue of sovereign equality and international equal status is important for Turkey and noted that “without them, we cannot go anywhere.”
Meanwhile, the decision by the Netflix streaming service to broadcast from September 20 the TV series “Famagusta,” which refers to Turkey’s invasion of Cyprus in 1974, is causing reactions in Turkey.
Turkey’s Foreign Ministry claims that the series “serves the black propaganda of the ‘Greek-Cypriot administration of Southern Cyprus’ [Republic of Cyprus], distorting historical events.”
“This series is a great disrespect to the honored memories of the Turkish Cypriots who were massacred by Greek-Cypriot gangs in the period 1963-74,” it claimed, denouncing “futile attempts to portray the events differently from what happened.” “It further strengthens our determination to fight for our national cause of Cyprus,” it said.
For his part, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan asserted in a speech to Turkish Navy officers that “we will protect to the end our rights in the Blue Homeland, which some call a fairy tale.”
“We will not allow the rights of our Turkish-Cypriot brothers to be violated. Whatever Turkey’s interests in the Aegean, the Black Sea and the Eastern Mediterranean require, we will implement them with determination, regardless of what anyone says and without getting their permission.”
