Press Releases, Statements, Notes/Articles and Letters INITIATIVE BY TURKEY ON CYPRUS, 24 JANUARY 2006 Cyprus a reminder CYPRUS: WHAT HAS HAPPENED? Highlights of the UNSG´s report Cyprus (Historical Overview) What the World Said Before the Referanda What the World said After the Referanda The Annan Plan and the Greek Cypriot “NO”: False Reasons and Claims Greek Cypriot state terror revealed Confidence Building Measures (1992-1994) Meaningful Anniversary Of The Cyprus Peace Operation Turkish Parliament Proclaims Solidarity With TRNC And Demands Equal Treatment For The Two States On The Island Resolution By The Turkish Grand National Assembly On 21 January 1997 Circular Note Sent To The Embassies Of The EU Member States Concerning The Greek Cypriot Application To The EU, 30 June 1997 Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Turkey and the Government of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus on the establishment of an Association Council Resolution Adopted By The Legislative Assembly of The TRNC March 9, 1998 Aide-Memoire By The TRNC To The British High Commission In Nicosia, 26 March 1998 Documents Given By President Denktas To The UN Secretary-General During Their Meeting In Geneva- 28 March 1998 Resolution of the Turkish Grand National Assembly, 15 July 1999 Treaty Provisions And Basic Documents With Regard To The EU Membership Of Cyprus British Professor of International Law Prof. H. Mendelson Q.C.'s opinion on the legal aspects of the one-sided membership application of the Greek Cypriot Administration of Southern Cyprus to the European Union Final communique of the annual coordination meeting of Ministers for Foreign Affairs of the States members of the Organization of the Islamic Conference ( United Nations, New York 28 September 2004, 14 Shaa'ban 1425 H - para. related to Cyprus) Report of the Secretary-General Kofi Annan on his Mission of Good Offices in Cyprus, 28 May 2004 Report of the Secretary-General Annan on the United Nations operation in in Cyprus, 3 December 2007 The Status of the Two Peoples in Cyprus Edited By Necati Münir Ertekün Greek Cypriot Attempts To Purchase Missiles From Russia And The Resulting Danger For The Peace And Stability In Cyprus EU and Cyprus:An Expert View Opinion of Professor M.H. Mendelson Q.C on the Application of “the Republic of Cyprus” to Join the European Union Grand Deception, Korkmaz HAKTANIR, Founding Member of the Cyprus Foundation '' BARBARIE A CHYPRE '' Le Soir Illustré 1967 The Need for New Perspective on Cyprus
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  5. Letter Sent By TRNC President Rauf Denktas To The Greek Cypriot Leader Glafcos Clerides, 5 March 1998
Letter Sent By TRNC President Rauf Denktas To The Greek Cypriot Leader Glafcos Clerides, 5 March 1998

His excellency Glafcos CLERIDES

Nicosia

Dear Glafcos,

I would like to start this letter by congratulating you on your re-election as the Greek Cypriot President. It seems that there is still a need for the contributions of our generation to help our two peoples to live side by side in peace.

I am sure you will agree with me that we both continue to carry an historic responsibility to find a new approach for the final settlement of the basic questions which have burdened us for the past 34 years. We both remember well the sad events which have brought us to this point. At this critical moment I wish to focus on the future.

I am convinced that the best way to build a better future is first to reach a common understanding on the guiding principles which will shape that future. Sincere commitment to these principles by both parties will give each side the hope and the assurance that the outcome will be responsive to their right, needs and interests.

The fundamental point in the circumstances of Cyprus is clearly the sovereign equality of the two sides based on the principles of symmetry and mutual respect. This means the recognition by each party that the other is equally entitled to the rights ad privileges that it enjoys and wants for itself. An unambiguous mutual commitment to these parameters can reverse the escalation of the conflict and break the vicious circle that has imprisoned both of our peoples over the years. It can also help the two sides bridge the gap between the uncertainties of the present and their hopes for the future.

In shaping our future the basic requirement is realism. Realism in Cyprus starts with the recognition of the fact that the independence and the sovereignty of Cyprus were entrusted in 1960 to the Turkish Cypriot people and the Greek Cypriot people as the two founding partners of the "Republic of Cyprus", with equal political status. Their separate rights to self-determination were explicitly recognized in 1956 and 1958 by the United Kingdom and subsequently by the United Nations. In other words, neither party can be the Government of the other or the Government of the whole island.

The second indispensable aspect of the same fact is the balance established between Turkey and Greece in Cyprus under the 1960 Agreements. Two important prerequisites stem from these realities:

  1. Neither of the two sides have exclusive rights over the independence and sovereignty of Cyprus.
  2. The balance established between Turkey and Greece has to be respected and preserved.

The 1960 partnership State was destroyed in 1963 by the Greek Cypriot side. This was also an attempt to destroy the balance between Turkey and Greece which culminated in the 1974 coup designed to annex the island Greece.

In the face of these grave developments, the Turkish Cypriot people set up their own administration under the Vice-President of Cyrus and later, in exercise of their equal sovereign rights and after a long evolutionary process, established the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) in 1983. At the same time, they have insisted on the observance of the balance between Turkey and Greece.

It is not my intention to go into history. But I must point out that the TRNC was declared two decades after striving for the restoration of the partnership state, eight years after the population exchange agreement with you, and only after the UN facilitated talks for a political settlement were frustrated by the Greek Cypriot side.

The failure to reach a federal settlement,despite many years of negotiations during which time your side flourished under the usurped and fictitious title of the "Government of Cyprus" at the expense of our political and economic rights, and the ever deepening mistrust resulting from this, has made such a solution untenable. Indeed the Greek Cypriot side has repeatedly declared that it was not interested in a federal settlement as envisaged by the UN Secretary-General. The expectation that EU membership would help you fulfill your selfish designs has resulted in your side-stepping a UN facilitated solution by rejecting even the UN Set of Ideas.

I want to remind you that your unilateral EU application and the treatment by the EU of this application, under the influence of Greece, as a bona fide valid application for the whole of Cyprus have been, for us, the latest and gravest evidence that you have no intention of respecting our rights and creating a new and workable partnership. Successive Greek Cypriot Governments policies of embargoes, the denial of our equal political rights and a readiness to resort to the use of force to impose your will, have demonstrated adequately your obsession to accomplish your declared aim of completely Hellenising Cyprus and dominating the Turkish Cypriot people.

These activities have been accompanied by efforts to undermine the balance between Turkey and Greece. The adoption and the persistent implementation of the joint military doctrine with Greece, the opening of the Paphos air base to station Greek combat aircraft and the prospective deployment of sophisticated S-300 missiles put in jeopardy the security and stability on the island, as well as in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Your departure from the agreed parameters of the negotiating process, clearly manifested in your rejection of the UN Set of Ideas and the unilateral EU membership process you embarked upon in total disregard of the stipulations of the relevant Treaties, and the military activities you have undertaken have rendered the search for a federal settlement even more illusionary. Under the prevailing conditions insistence on such a solution can even be dangerous. The path you have taken by departing from the basis of the 1960 "state of affairs", namely the internal balance between our two peoples and the external balance between the two guarantor Motherlands promises nothing but further tension.

Inspite of all this and the fact that previous negotiating experiences have been very costly for the Turkish Cypriot people, we still want peace and cooperation on the island as well as peace and cooperation between Turkey and Greece.

Approaching the year 2000, I believe we have to make a new beginning on the basis of the realities I referred to above. As a result of what has happened over the years, we now have two fully functioning democratic states on the island, each with its own people, territory and effective government, neither one having he legal or moral right to claim to be the government of the other. Efforts to build a worthwhile future for both our peoples must therefore be based on the acknowledgment of the existence and equal status of our respective states. What needs to be done now is to work out an arrangement which will enable the two states to resolve certain basic matters, specifically the final settlement of reciprocal property claims, security issues and the delineation of borders. If we can do this, we will have achieved a new platform upon which the two peoples of the island and their states can peacefully co-exist without claims against one another. When the two sides do reach this stage and create a climate of confidence then they may be in a position to visualise a joint future.

The time has come for both of us to show the necessary leadership so that the future generations do not go through the bitter experiences that both you and I have endured, and instead equally benefit, in peace, mutual respect and cooperation, from the many opportunities that our island and region generously offer. Our primary aim must be the immediate achievement of a working relationship between our two states so that peace, stability and mutual trust can be secured and the danger of a new conflict is averted.

Rauf. R. Denktaş

President of the TRNC