Turkish Cypriot minister tells EU of optimism for future of divided island

A senior Turkish Cypriot minister has voiced optimism that the Cyprus problem will soon be settled.

Speaking in the European parliament on Tuesday, Ozkan Murat said Turkish Cypriots “have already exhibited their desire for co-existence” by accepting the 2004 reunification plan proposed by former UN secretary general Kofi Annan.

“Following our big disappointment with the Greek Cypriot ‘No’ vote in the referendum on the Annan Plan we now undoubtedly expect and hope to see a reciprocal will from the Green Cypriot side.”

Murat, minister of interior affairs in the unrecognised Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, was speaking at the opening of a photographic exhibition in parliament of historical northern Cypriot artefacts.

He said there was a “common culture of traditional peace, tranquillity and co existence” on the island “way before we needed to start tiring, decades-long” negotiations to solve the Cyprus problem.

“The registers, documents and records you see here today are a reflection of the existence of the Turkish Cypriot entity in Cyprus for the last 400 years. They demonstrate that the Turkish Cypriots were not wandering visitors in the island but instead a constituent native element contributing to the culture of peaceful co-existence.”

“Throughout these documents, the Turkish Cypriots refer to Cyprus as ‘ours’ and not as ‘mine’ – not ‘my’ but ‘our island.’

“Yet we Turkish Cypriots were unjustly ousted from the republic and were isolated from the rest of the world in the northern part of the island.

“Today, however, I am happy to see that the state of affairs on the island have taken a turn for the better.”

The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus is a de facto independent republic and, unlike the country’s Greek Cypriot community, not a member of the EU.

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