Denktas: Unite Divided Cyprus Within EU

Stating that the EU had pretended not to see the realities, Denktas said: "I ask them: Is there anyone among your members and candidates that had an embargo imposed on a quarter of its population for 40 years? Is there anyone among your members upon whom genocide was committed and whose people and babies were killed? Is there anyone, being part of its own founding government, whose public was told, ‘You are a minority and I am the legal government from now on’ by tearing up its constitution?"

Denktas said the Turkish Cypriots would claim their own sovereignty and state and indicated that Turkey was required to show its determination. He added: "The Turkish government should emphasize that unless the Turks are treated equally, nothing will change on the island and that in no way can it be accepted that the Cyprus problem was a condition for EU membership." Saying that when the EU accepts Turkey as a member it should also consent to the accession of Northern Cyprus, he proposed that in this way two parts of Cyprus would be united within the EU. Denktas underlined that this situation gave Turkey an important trump card against the EU.

Zafer Ozcan / Istanbul / TURKEY