By This post is also available in: ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΑ (GREEK) TÜRKÇE (TURKISH)
The European Parliament’s approval of its new progress report on Turkey, which once again defines the solution model for the Cyprus issue as ‘a federal model based on two regions, two communities and political equality,’ has upset the Tatar circles and Tahsin [Editor’s note: reference to Tahsin Ertuğruloğlu, the Minister of Foreign Affairs]. It’s good to be upset, the heart grows stronger through trials!
Statement issued by the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs regarding the report does not mention this issue at all. We can therefore assume that they are not particularly concerned about this.
It is clear that the European Parliament, as an EU institution, fully supports federalism as a realistic solution model.
Of course, I would need to write another piece to examine how sincere the EU is on this issue, and you can be sure that I will do so.
I will, of course, do this based on the 188 ‘abstentions’ given to the Turkey report, but as I said, that is not the subject of this article.
On the other hand, the answer I received to the question I asked Hugo-Sanchez Amor, the author of the relevant report, at a press conference, “The process in Turkey is in stagnation, and the Greek Cypriots are in the EU, so what will happen to us, Turkish Cypriots?” was important.
Amor says that insisting on a two-state solution will turn us into a province of Turkey!
Is this the first time we’ve heard of this?
No, we have been hearing this for as long as I can remember!
Indeed, every day we remain distant from a federal solution, we swiftly advance on the path to becoming a province.
With the rhetoric becoming increasingly reckless after the 2020 elections, we have reached a point where calls for ‘annexation’ are flying around, which is not at all pleasant. In addition, thanks to a bunch of opportunistic politicians eager to become the new Tayfur Sökmen [Editor’s note: the first and only president of Hatay before it was annexed by Turkey in 1939], a Hatay-style annexation is also on the table. The groundwork has already been laid for this.
This model, which makes the mouths of nationalist conspirators on Turkish television channels water, will eventually come to the fore if the impasse continues.
Yet, I am leaving this topic aside because I must now turn to the subject that constitutes the title of this article.
Ladies and gentlemen, the only hope for the federal front at the moment is for our professor, Tufan Erhürman, to win the election in October, then convince Turkey, and finally bring the Greek Cypriots into line. We know for a fact that the professor is not a person who can cause a storm, as his name suggests [Editor’s note: ‘Tufan’ means a ‘rainstorm’ in Turkish].
He is naive, polite, respectful, and, to be honest, an almost Norwegian-like Turkish Cypriot politician.
Joke aside, he is a good person; I personally like him.
However, our professor’s polite political approach, whereby he says a lot but actually conveys very little, is not suitable for those who are ‘clearly’ opposed to a solution.
While Mr. Ersin Tatar wrongly and falsely claims that, “This is a model of surrender. This will make us a band-aid of the Greek Cypriots,” you cannot respond with a sentence like, “Federation is basic information.”
What does “information” mean?
We are not talking about road signs, sir!
We are not reading a manual for a food processor either!
With such an attitude, you cannot explain a federal solution like an introverted high school student.
Because federation is the only form of compromise reached between the two sides, the sole common ground.
The 1977-1979 High-Level Agreements are the results of this.
The 11 February 2014 Eroğlu-Anastasiadis document is a compromise.
The 25 November 2019 agreement, which some of your party members mocked by saying, “Akıncı and his team are going to Berlin for breakfast,” is the train that was derailed in Crans Montana being put back on track.
That agreement is your freshest and most important pillar of support in this election period and—if you succeed—in your future position as leader of society.
That is why federation is not just basic information written on a leaflet, but rather the medicine itself that will bring about a solution. Therefore, if this path has been taken, if there is a will to lead the Turkish Cypriots, then there is no room for timidity.
The primary reason for the existence of the party you are a candidate of is the federation. One of its slogans is, ‘peace, democracy and federation’.
To put it bluntly, CTP is the locomotive of the federal solution, and you are the conductor.
Therefore, please, I beg you, you cannot say that ‘federation is basic information.’ Your duty is to explain how and in what form this federation will become a reality, exactly as you have written in your books. This is a must.
If there are those within the party who are eager to play the ‘TRNC card’ and who are not willing to disrupt their comfort zone, or those who are pressuring others with the fear that, “the gods will get angry and put us on the blacklist, and then we won’t be able to form a government,” then go ahead and expose them!
Or, if you say, “Let’s not go against Turkey’s official policy,” then go ahead and tamper with your party’s DNA, try to change it! Look, the Turkish Cypriot people need hope, they need a goal to believe in, not political guardianship within the confines of a palace!
Our youth need a bright future, a chance to leave their mark on the international stage, not senseless, dictated, dogmatic nationalism!
So, please tell us about this future.
Take the Guterres document in your hands and start explaining from there!
Instead of accusing your counterpart, push them towards a solution!
I was in Crans Montana, too, I know what Hristodulidis did.
I even wanted to walk up to him in the corridors, but now he has become an angel of the federation.
Is he sincere? We won’t know until we try!
This trial is your test, my friend!
Go and see him, check him out, why are you reluctant to do so?
There was an attempt to arrange a meeting, why aren’t you taking it forward?
Why aren’t you intimidating him?
He and especially his right-hand man, Kombos, are very talented men, why aren’t you pulling them aside?
As I said, the federation is not just basic information; it is a way of life, a form of governance, a philosophy that stems from political equality and does not allow the minority to dominate the majority, or the majority to dominate the minority.
Our political equality is, of course, not up for debate, but how it can be achieved is a matter for negotiation.
Explain this to us, sir!
Explain property to us, but not through the naivety of “our wealthy people can’t even go on a two-day holiday,” but through the property commission, through emotional ties, through the right of first refusal!
Because federation is not just basic information!
Otherwise, the day will come when the internal and external demons within us will make you forget even the information that you are on top of, and you will be left bewildered!
This article was originally published on 09.05.2025
Source: FEDERATION IS NOT JUST BASIC INFORMATION!
