Tatar irked by Menendez's comments

Recent comments by US Senate Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Bob Menendez regarding the situation in northern Cyprus due to the Turkish invasion in 1974 and the current intransigence emanating from the Turkish side have outraged the leadership of the island’s Turkish-occupied territory.

Specifically, Turkish-Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar criticized the statements of the Democratic US senator, saying that it was the Greeks who were in occupation of the island’s south, while also aiming fire at both the US and the European Union.

“The admission of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) as an observer member of the Organization of Turkic States (TDT) and the visit of Gambian Vice President Badara Joof drew great attention across the world,” Turkey’s Anadolu Agency quoted the Turkish-Cypriot leadership as saying in a statement. “That is why the ‘Greek-Greek Cypriot duo’ made various attempts to obstruct the TRNC’s progress towards recognition. The EU, the US and some other powers also took action.”

Tatar said Menendez, under the guidance of the Greek-Cypriot lobby, referred to a Turkish occupation in Cyprus while taking a pro-Greek stance.

“First of all, the chairperson of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the whole world should know very well that the occupier in Cyprus is the Greek-Greek Cypriot duo who turned the Republic of Cyprus, in which the Turkish Cypriot people are equal founding partners, into a Greek state by force of arms, and this occupation still continues,” Tatar claimed.

He noted that the supporters of ‘the duo’ expressed satisfaction over the lifting of the arms embargo imposed by the US on Cyprus in the 1980s.