The Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar has insisted on recognition of equal sovereignty and international status as a precondition to negotiate a settlement of the Cyprus issue in all its aspects, in an exclusive interview to Phileleftheros.
Tatar said he wasn’t ready for ‘unofficial’ dialogue, as he called it, so during a recent meeting with the British High Commissioner in Nicosia he proposed a meeting with their delegations in London so a dialogue can be launched within a ‘different environment’.
Ersin Tatar claimed that in one form or another, two separate states have now existed in Cyprus for over 60 years, calling on the Greek Cypriots and the international community to accept this reality.
If Turkish Cypriot sovereign equality is recognised by the Security Council, he added, then the Cyprus issue can be negotiated with the view to a new deal based on what the Turkish-Cypriot side is proposing.
The fenced off town of Varosha has opened, Tatar declared, saying that as soon as applications are looked into, properties will be returned to their rightful owners. He further called on the Greek Cypriot side to work collectively in improving the compensation mechanism.
‘We only trust Turkey’, Tatar concluded.
