Newly re-elected Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is visiting breakaway Turkish-held northern Cyprus on Monday, according to Turkish media report.
During his one-day visit, he is scheduled to hold a meeting with leaders of the illegal regime in the breakaway per of Cyprus whish s divide since a 1974 invasion.
Erdoğan aims to convey important messages pertaining to Ankara’s policy on the Cyprus problem and Turkey’s roadmap in the Eastern Mediterranean.
This is Erdogan’s inaugural abroad visit after the recent election.
He arrived on the island at 1pm and having laid a wreath at north Nicosia’s statue of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, he made his way to Tatar’s official residence alongside members of the Turkish Cypriot ‘cabinet’, his own newly appointed Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, and his ambassador to the north Nicosia Metin Feyzioğlu.
Tatar spoke about how Turkey is now on its way to becoming “not just a regional power but a global power”, and thanked Erdoğan for his support on the Cyprus problem, pointing out important moments such as the 5+1 meeting in Geneva in 2020 and Erdoğan’s speech to the United Nations general assembly last year in which he instructed members to “recognise the TRNC”.
Erdoğan thanked those who voted in last month’s Turkish elections, and those who attended his inauguration ceremony earlier this month. He also focused on his ambition to solve what he called the north’s “electricity problem” with the construction of a cable transmitting electricity from Turkey to the north before turning his attention to the Cyprus problem.
Erdoğan commended what he called Tatar’s “results-orientated vision”.
“No one can bear to waste another 50 years of time. If there is to be a return to the negotiating table, the only way to do this is to recognise the TRNC,” he said.
Cyprus’ foreign ministry condemned Erdoğan’s visit, saying it constitutes yet another flagrant violation of the relevant resolutions of the United Nations Security Council.
The rhetoric expressed by Erdoğan and Tatar clashes with Cyprus’ efforts to resolve the national problem, the ministry added.
While the meeting in the north was taking place, left-wing Yeni Düzen newspaper and Kanal Sim television channel journalist Serhat İncirli claims he was removed from Tatar’s official residence by police.
İncirli told Yeni Düzen that “I showed my [press] card, I went in, I stayed there for 40 minutes, and then a policeman came to my side and said ‘you are not allowed to be in here’ and told me I had to leave”. Yeni Düzen themselves assert that İncirli received his accreditation to cover Erdoğan’s visit on June 9.
İncirli, alongside his newspaper Yeni Düzen and its editor Cenk Mutluyakalı, had previously been subject to a lawsuit from Tatar regarding four articles written by İncirli in July last year, with the suit being filed by Tatar this January.
As news broke, Ali Kişmir, the leader of the left-wing Turkish Cypriot journalists’ trade union Basın-Sen took to twitter repeating İncirli’s version of events and declaring that “we will not bow to the fascism practised by these cowards!”. Kişmir himself is set to face trial for “insulting” the Turkish security forces in an article he wrote last year.
Having completed his programme in Cyprus, Erdoğan is now en route to Azerbaijan where it is expected he will meet with President İlham Aliyev.
Subsequently, on Tuesday, June 13, Erdoğan will visit Azerbaijan, where he will meet with his counterpart, President Ilham Aliyev.
The primary focus of their meeting will be to explore avenues for enhancing cooperation along the Ankara-Baku line.
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