Talat told Turkish journalists that the relations between occupation regime and Turkey are the worse ever
Turkish daily Radikal (18.06.12) and Turkish daily Milliyet (18.06.12) published statements by former Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat who spoke to Turkish journalists who were invited by the Republican Turkish Party (CTP) to Cyprus to be informed about the latest developments of the Cyprus problem.
Talat spoke to Radikal’s journalist Oral Calislar, about the relations between the occupation regime and Turkey and said that they constitute “custody relations”. Talat said that every thought coming to the occupied areas from Turkey, is considered an order by the “administration” and added that in his time things were very different. “At that times no intervention came from Turkey. It was the army which was strong and we had problems with them”. While the “government” pretends that there is no problem with Turkey, he said, the reaction against Ankara inside the society is very strong and is growing bigger. As he said the Turkish Cypriot businessmen are against the intervention which aims the capital to change hands in occupied Cyprus and they complain about unfair competitions between companies that come from Turkey and Turkish Cypriot companies. Talat also said that the trade unions especially, are reacting strongly against Turkey and they are sending the message that the Turkish Cypriots want to administrate themselves.
Commenting on the issue, Oral Calislar notes that he is a journalist who follows issues regarding Cyprus for years and that it is the first time that he observed such a reaction against Turkey.
In addition, Milliyet’s journalist Kadri Gursel, wrote that the journalists who visit occupied Cyprus come across the issue of the pressure exerted by conservatism circles in Ankara towards the secular Turkish Cypriot identity. He added that he spoke with Talat about this and related issues like the opening of religious schools in the occupied area and the construction of mosques.
Talat stated that Cyprus has not a fundamentalist structure and added that water, air, and being an island of Cyprus, creates a more flexible structure. He also said that even those who are coming to the island from Turkey are assimilated.
He went on and added that if there is no solution, the Turkish Cypriots will be eliminated. He said further that Ankara is not interested for the Cyprus problem. “Because there is no Cyprus problem, because there are no negotiations. They collapsed after 2010”, he said. He went on and added that the Greek Cypriots demonized the Annan Plan and they were not ready for a solution. “That is why Christofias was not able to continue (with the negotiations)”, he stated.