Under the above title, Turkish Cypriot daily Yeni Duzen newspaper (22.07.14) reports that the Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu has alleged that the Turkish Cypriots are not citizens of the Republic of Cyprus. During an interview with the Turkish Service of BBC in the occupied part of Nicosia, Eroglu was asked whether the Greek Cypriot side gains from the prolonging of the non-solution on the island. Eroglu alleged that time causes no trouble for the Greek Cypriots, while it causes trouble to the Turkish Cypriots. He alleged:
“I travel abroad with passports of the Republic of Turkey. Therefore, an image is given as if the Turkish Cypriot people are without identity. Or our people travel with passports of the Republic of Cyprus. I will not enter into the debate whether this is right or wrong. However, in the end, every state should have a passport for its people. They cannot travel with the passport given by my state to any other country than Turkey, but with a passport given by the Republic of Cyprus, they are treated as if they are citizens of the Republic of Cyprus. However, our people are not citizens of the Republic of Cyprus, they are citizens of the TRNC”.
Replying to another question, Eroglu argued that in case no agreement on the Cyprus problem is reached within this year, the people will not be convinced for a solution. “Both my generation and the younger generation are tired of hearing about the Cyprus problem”, he said adding that therefore they have to end this problem until the end of this year or March – April next year.
Eroglu alleged also that the Greek Cypriot side has not abandoned its so-called policy of not giving concessions and accused the Greek Cypriot side of not accepting the convergences achieved in the past during the negotiations.
Eroglu also claimed that the two communities trust each other more now in comparison to the pre-2003 period, when the barricades were kept closed by the occupation regime.
Asked whether the natural gas found in Cyprus’ exclusive economic zone would speed up the solution of the Cyprus problem, Eroglu alleged that while this should have been an incentive for the solution, it leads the Greek Cypriot side away from the solution because the Greek Cypriots do not want to share this wealth with the Turkish Cypriots.
