Former Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar and “prime minister” Unal Ustel have criticised the Greek Cypriot side over reported calls to remove the breakaway state’s flag from the Pentadaktylos mountains and a decision to rename Kemal Ataturk Street in Paphos.
Their statements followed reports that the removal of the flag could be raised as a confidence-building measure, as well as Paphos council’s decision to rename Kemal Ataturk Street in the Moutallos area as Nikos Kapetanidis Street.
Ustel said demands made under the pretext of confidence-building measures, including the removal of the flag from the Pentadaktylos, “destroy trust” between the two communities and serve “conflict, not peace, hostility, not friendship”.
In a written statement carried in the north, Ustel also referred to a report in Phileleftheros and to the street renaming in Paphos, saying that lasting peace and stability can only be achieved through mutual respect.
“Such steps, taken by circles that cannot tolerate the Turkish presence and are guided by dreams of Enosis, damage trust between the two peoples,” he said.
Ustel described the demand to remove the flag as unacceptable, saying the flag represented, for Turkish Cypriots, the will of the Turkish Cypriot people for independence.
He also described the move to rename a street bearing the name of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk as a hostile act. He said Ataturk was the founder of the Republic of Turkey and a figure whose path the Turkish Cypriot people were proud to follow.
According to Ustel, the decision to rename Kemal Ataturk Street in Paphos “clearly shows the real face” of the Greek Cypriot side’s mentality. He added that Turkish Cypriots would continue to uphold their values, flag, state and ties with Turkey.
He said Turkish Cypriots had always shown respect for the religious values, flag and sacred sites of the Greek Cypriot community, adding that they expected the same respect in return.
Ustel also said flags bearing the crescent and star would continue to fly and that the flag on the Pentadaktylos would remain a symbol of the Turkish Cypriot presence on the island.
In a separate written statement, former Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar said that, just as Turkish Cypriots did not want church bells to be silenced, the Greek Cypriot side should show the same respect to the flag and the “sacred values of the Turkish nation”.
Tatar claimed that attacks by the Greek Cypriot side against the values and rights of the Turkish Cypriot people had increased in recent days. He described the reported proposal to remove the flag from the Pentadaktylos as “absolutely unacceptable”.
He also said the decision to rename Kemal Ataturk Street in Paphos was another indication of what he called the Greek Cypriot side’s intolerance.
“No one should miscalculate,” Tatar said. “The Turkish Cypriot people will continue to decisively protect their state, flag and national values.”
He added that peace was possible through mutual understanding and respect, but said steps by some on the Greek Cypriot side who, in his words, still pursued Enosis, harmed the atmosphere of reconciliation.
Source: CNA
