Tatar’s July 20 speech ‘unbecoming of his office’

Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar’s statements at the military parade which marked the 51st anniversary of Turkey’s invasion of Cyprus on Sunday were “unbecoming of his office”, opposition Turkish Cypriot leadership election candidate Tufan Erhurman said on Tuesday.

Tatar somewhat broke with tradition on Sunday, electing to dedicate part of his July 20 speech to open criticism of internal political opposition, claiming that those who oppose him “want to tie our future to the will and approval of the Greek Cypriots”.

He said those who seek to “discredit” his work “lack any stance or clear vision” and are “unable to grasp the realities on the island or grasp the changing dynamics of international diplomacy”.

“Those who believe they can win elections with rhetoric which belittles and unfairly discredits their own people and their elected representatives must first and foremost recognise the disrespect they are showing to the will of our people,” he said.

Erhurman responded during an appearance on Kibris Postasi TV on Tuesday afternoon, saying Tatar had “used language which will create division within society”.

“This tone was neither constitutionally nor politically befitting of the office of the president. Tatar’s statements directly referred to himself and the upcoming elections. These statements were unbecoming of the weight of the office,” he said.

Setting out his own vision for how talks on the Cyprus problem should be conducted, Erhurman stressed that “we want negotiations not for the sake of negotiations, but for the sake of solutions”.

He referred to his “five-point plan” for negotiations which his CTP party had unveiled last year, before speaking directly on the matter of power-sharing between Cyprus’ two major communities.

“The reality on the ground points to a loose federation. The Greek Cypriots also favour this model, and under this structure, the central government would have limited powers, and the two constituent states would be able to develop independent policies in their respective regions,” he said.

He then added that issues such as maritime jurisdiction, hydrocarbon resources, energy, security and trade may all be competences of the federal government, before criticising claims made by some that a federal Cyprus would condemn Turkish Cypriots to a “minority status”.

“Calling the federation, which was a Turkish position initially, something which would condemn us to minority status means that every Turkish Cypriot leader who has served so far, especially Rauf Raif Denktash, and Turkey, has been trying to condemn us to being a minority,” he said.

He added, “Turkey has supported a bizonal federation from [late Turkish prime minister] Bulent Ecevit to the Annan plan”, and added that the belief that a federal solution to the Cyprus problem would condemn the Turkish Cypriots to being a minority is “very wrong”.

The Turkish Cypriot leadership election is set to take place on October 19.