The United Nations and the European Union have been enabling a great injustice for many years. The island of Cyprus supports Greek Cypriots as if it were just a Greek-inhabited island; however, not only Greeks live on the island. Turks and Greeks have been living on Cyprus for hundreds of years. They lived together in peace and harmony during the Ottoman Empire. Unfortunately, this situation has changed since the island became a British colony. The colonialists on the island ruled by the British governor did not want peace. With the support of Greece, they provoked the Greeks against the Turks.
The Greeks, who lived with the Turks for hundreds of years, suddenly began to say, "The best Turk is the dead Turk." They attacked Turkish villages and Turkish people. For the Turks, a period of pain began.
Nevertheless, under the guarantee of Britain, Turkey and Greece, Greeks and Turks managed to establish the Republic of Cyprus together. This republic, founded on Feb. 19, 1959, declared its independence on Aug. 16, 1960. The president was Greek while the vice-president was Turkish. As you see, not only Greeks live on the island.
However, with the slogan "We will connect the island to Greece," Greeks continued their attacks against Turks. In the early 1970s, Turks who lived in villages and urban districts braced themselves to defend against Greek attacks on the island. Apart from their towns and places, the Turks were massacred in the assaults of the Greek fascists. At that time, the situation of the Turkish Cypriots was no different from the Syrians who have been attacked by the dictator Bashar Assad in Syria today.
The U.N. and Europe remained indifferent to this situation. Turks' lives and property were at risk.
This situation became more unstable because of hostile fascist Greek officers, who launched a military coup by order of the fascist "colonel junta" in Greece on July 15, 1974. If Turkey did not intervene on July 20, 1974 as a guarantor country, there would not be a single Turk on the island today. In fact, not only Turks but also Greeks who opposed the fascists were gathered to be slaughtered in stadiums.
On July 20, 1974, Turkey saved not only Turkish Cypriots but also Greek Cypriots from being victims of the fascist regime.
Since then, Turkish Cypriots have been living in their own country because they do not trust the Greeks in Greek Cyprus, who still harbor hostility toward Turks and are pursuing the goal of linking the island to Greece. They want Turkey to protect Turkish Cypriot lives and property because the U.N. and the EU have failed the island.
In particular, the EU has always been in Cyprus with the Greeks, in line with the expectations of Greece. Those who call Turkey "the invader" have forgotten that Turkey saved Cyprus, both the Turks and Greeks, from a fascist junta, while they did not preserve the safety of Turkish Cypriots' lives and property.
The EU continues to support this error. Turkey's already deserved EU accession has also faced injustice, with the bloc using Cyprus as an excuse.
Today, the events that come up in the vicinity of the island cannot be understood or solved by reflecting on the historical facts that I mentioned above. The owners of the underground resources of Cyprus and the surrounding area are not only the Greeks but also the Turks and the closest neighbors to the island.
Those who support Greeks and try to usurp the rights of Turkey and Turkish Cypriots need to understand that the Cyprus equation cannot be solved or move forward for the extraction and use of underground resources without Turkey. The Turkish side defends the common interests of Turkish Cypriots and Turkey.
In particular, it would be beneficial for the EU and Greek Cyprus to carefully consider the remarks of both Turkish Foreign Affairs Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
Speaking to Greek Cypriot newspaper Politis, Çavuşoğlu said: "First, we must understand that the two communities must live together peacefully. This should be through a fair and continuous solution of creative measures of confidence. This is the best way to eliminate fear and bad feelings between the sides... What kind of a solution? A federation, confederation, two-state or another fourth or fifth solution? First of all, we need to decide on a solution and decide to agree on reference conditions unofficially... We don't have the luxury of failure.
"For this reason, we need to deal with ourselves before time and energy are spent and before the elections. We spent a lot of time. The time has come for a sustainable solution that is supported not just by the Turkish side, but by both parties. Both sides must support any possible solution, or we will fail again."
Speaking about the underground resources at a press conference in Argentina at the G20 summit, President Erdoğan said: "The reckless behavior of Greece and the Greek Cypriot administration in the hydrocarbon search in the Eastern Mediterranean, by receiving support from several European states, has become a threat and danger primarily to themselves. Turkey is determined to use its rights arising from international law in full regarding disputes over the Aegean Sea and the Cyprus issue. Turkey will not make the slightest concession from these either in the Eastern Mediterranean or any other region and will defend its rights."
Now we'll see what the EU and Cyprus will do.
