By Cyprus MAil,
President Nikos Christodoulides on Saturday praised the “strong reaction from our Turkish Cypriot compatriots” in recent protests against both the north’s ruling coalition and against Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, amid Erdogan’s visit to the north the same day.
Asked about his thoughts on Erdogan’s visit to the north, he said, “what stands out from Mr Erdogan’s visit to the occupied territories is the strong reaction from our Turkish Cypriot compatriots – a reaction which is constantly strengthening, which we saw with the reactions in relation to the issue of the headscarf”.
“I believe that it is a visit which, mainly due to these reactions, I do not consider, in terms of the Turkish Cypriots’ desire, the Turkish Cypriots’ will, to have the most positive result in the direction that Mr Erdogan is seeking,” he added.
The matter of the headscarf has been dubbed the “headscarf crisis” by some in the media, and has seen Turkish Cypriots take to the streets of Nicosia in their thousands on three separate occasions since the north’s ruling coalition legalised the wearing of hijabs by girls in public schools a month ago, most recently on Friday night.
Meanwhile, on Saturday, five people were arrested during a small protest against Erdogan’s visit. They were all later released without charge.
Christodoulides was then asked about the possibility of movement with regard to the Cyprus problem in light of Erdogan’ visit, but suggested that things, at least for now, will remain as they are.
“Mr Erdogan’s position is known. He did not say anything new. What I would like to comment on, however, from this report, are the ‘realities’, and the ‘realities’ are that there has been an illegal occupation in Cyprus for 50 years; an occupation that is no different from the one which the international community rightly condemns in the case of Ukraine,” he said.
Meanwhile, Cyprus’ foreign ministry issued a statement condemning Erdogan’s visit to the island.
It said it “condemns the illegal visit of [Erdogan] and other Turkish officials to the occupied areas of the Republic of Cyprus to launch a project which highlights and promotes the secessionist entity,” in reference to the new official residence of Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar and the new ‘parliament’ building in Ayios Dhometios which were inaugurated earlier on Saturday.
The opening ceremony, the foreign ministry said, was carried out “in violation of international law and the relevant United Nations security council resolutions”.
“In this context, the symbolic character attempted to be given to the illegal visit is fully in line with the upsurge in Turkish rhetoric on the ‘two-state solution’, revealing, at the same time, Turkish intentions for exercising full control over the occupied areas of Cyprus,” the ministry added.
It also made reference to the “headscarf crisis”, decrying “Ankara’s efforts to impose its will on Turkish Cypriots on issues related to the cultural identity of the Turkish Cypriot community, as highlighted through the effort to introduce the headscarf in schools”.
Erdogan had extolled the virtues of the new palace earlier in the day, speaking of how Tatar’s official residence “represents the dignity of our state with its modern architecture”, and how the new ‘parliament’ building “represents the Turkish Cypriot people’s love for democracy with its magnificence”.
“Each brick of these works bears the sweat of our workers, each design bears the vision of our architects, and each detail bears the talent of our engineers,” he said.
He also disavowed “those who are jealous of the developing economy, of the strengthening infrastructure, of the increasing peace and rising visibility of the TRNC in the international community”, saying they are “doing everything they can” to stop it.
He also offered his own evaluation of the Cyprus problem,
“The Turkish Cypriot people have repeatedly shown their goodwill and that they are the side which wants a permanent and just solution. The only reason the Greek Cypriot administration is defending the idea of a federal solution, having publicly rejected it in the past, is to confine the Turkish side to the table and to usurp the Turkish Cypriot people’s rights,” he said.
