Tatar slams Holguin: 'she has no right to provoke'

Turkish Cypriot Leader Ersin Tatar said on Tuesday that he refused to sit at a table where Greek Cypriots would be classed as the Republic and the Turkish Cypriots would be a community.
He added that he could consider launching a new round of negotiations had an initiative been undertaken by the UN to open the way for direct flights, direct trade and direct contact.
“Let me make something clear. The Cyprus Problem which has been going on for 60 years is not something Holguin can solve with a “magic wand,” Tatar said in an interview to the TAK news agency.
He slammed Holguin’s meetings, saying “she cannot gauge public opinion going from door to door. She has no right. It’s not nice of her to go to the most extreme opponents and provoke, challenging the established order of the ‘country’.
“Frankly, I was annoyed by that… It’s Holguin’s duty to investigate if there is common ground. It is already clear that there is not.”
Referring to the UN personal envoy’s earlier remarks in an interview that she had been surprised by Ersin Tatar’s refusal to agree to a trilateral meeting, he said that without common ground, there is no point in holding meetings, and that Holguin does not understand the reality of Cyprus.
Also drawing attention to earlier remarks by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan during a joint press conference with Greek Prime Minister Kyriacos Mitsotakis that it was important to reach a just and lasting settlement in Cyprus based on the facts, Tatar pointed out that there were two separate democracies, two separate states and two separate peoples in Cyprus.
“The Turkish Cypriots have as much a right of self-governance as Greek Cypriots do. Talks can only begin with two states sitting at the table,” he said, reiterating his position that the sovereign equality of the Turkish Cypriot people must be recognized before any talks can begin.
He also said that the aim of the embargoes was to pressure the Turkish Cypriot people and to impose upon them a settlement that will see them transformed into a minority.
“Let it not be forgotten. Turkish Cypriots have an 85 million strong Türkiye by their side. They are not alone.”
Calling out to circles who still advocate a federal settlement in Cyprus, Tatar said that “it is true we must sit at the table but before we do so we need to secure our equality. That is extremely important.”
( Source: BRT)