The Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar said that the main purpose of the meeting to be held tomorrow with Greek Cypriot leader Nikos Christodoulides is to establish dialogue and prepare the ground for future meetings in efforts to make technical committees more useful.
Tatar also announced that during his meeting with Christodoulides tomorrow, he will propose how cooperation can be held between the two sides and how they can make preparations in case of a possible earthquake in Cyprus.
Tatar issued a statement, to the press following his meeting with Colin Stewart, the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus.
– Social meeting
Stating that during his meeting with Stewart, they discussed, in detail, the fundamental points of the Cyprus issue and the expectations of the Turkish Cypriot side, Tatar said that tomorrow will be a ‘social meeting’.
Tatar said that discussions on furthering daily contacts and existing cooperation, currently being carried out at different technical committees, may also be taken up during tomorrow’s meeting.
Stating that the decision of tomorrow’s meeting was taken in advance, Tatar said, “We will attend tomorrow’s meeting,” and that official negotiations can only begin in Cyprus with the acceptance of the sovereign equality and equal international status of the Turkish Cypriot people. Tatar said that he informed Stewart regarding the topics that he will discuss during the meeting tomorrow.
– “Cooperation on the earthquake issue, is extremely important on this small island”
Stating that the earthquake issue was also discussed during his meeting today, Tatar said that Stewart would also bring this issue to the agenda tomorrow and will put forward that the Turkish Cypriot side has proposals for cooperation between the two sides, in the case of a possible earthquake scenario in Cyprus.
Tatar’s statement is as follows:
“Experts say that earthquakes in Türkiye have reached as far as Hatay and that these earthquakes may also occur here in the future. Everyone needs to know this. I have discussed this with the UN as well. We’ve been talking about the earthquake here, every day, for the past two weeks. Cyprus is in an earthquake zone. Maybe there won’t be a severe earthquake, but consequently, we need to be prepared. Therefore, I expressed the extreme importance of cooperation on this small island of Cyprus. I talked about the successful work of our teams in Adıyaman, Türkiye and once again expressed our appreciation for the efforts given for the six days there to save our children, who were under the rubble. I stated that our teams and experts are experienced and well-equipped and that we can cooperate on any issue. I am sure that the emergency teams in South Cyprus also have thoughts on what to do in such situations and what kind of search and rescue efforts will be carried out. Therefore, I am always in favour of dialogue, I believe that it is always necessary to communicate with one another.”
