Many Turkish Cypriot newspapers report today (03.11.09) about a recently released book titled “Adam, Talat’in Kibrisi” (My Island, Talat’s Cyprus). The book consists of interviews between Talat and the Radikal daily’s newsroom director Erdal Guven, and focuses on the details of Talat’s personal life from his childhood to his marriage and his political career.
Under the title “I cried when the TRNC was established” , Afrika publishes the part of the book in which Talat refers to the establishment of the occupation regime on 15th November 1983: “Discussions were going on with great intensity. The Republican Turkish Party (CTP) frequently published declarations that a separate state is partition, saying no to the division of the island and a separate state. On the night of November 14, the CTP Party Council convened. Before the council’s meeting, Rauf Denktas said: ‘We will declare the establishment of the TRNC tomorrow. Any party that goes against this will be shut down’. We discussed this until 5 in the morning. In the end we held the voting. The decision that came up with 14 to 13 votes, was to support the decision to back the declaration. I, naturally, voted “No” given the circumstances of the day. What’s more, I did all I could so there wouldn’t be a yes vote in the end. I cried when I got home that night, for the first time in my life. I cried because I couldn’t believe how the CTP could do this. What got to me most was the inconsistency we showed. We should have voted no. Then we would have paid whatever consequences there might have been.”
Talat went on and said the following:
“Declaring the KKTC’s establishment was the most wrong thing to do. It was obvious in the international atmosphere of the day that it would backfire against the Turkish side. Because there was the Cyprus Turkish Federal State. The Turkish side, with nationalistic enthusiasm, took a decision that caused it to cut the limb it was standing on. This placed the Cypriot Turks in a difficult position, plus Turkey had to face harsh pressure in the world. It was an uncalculated move, it was not rational.”
He also said, “Coming to our day, the Cypriot Turks want a settlement; they want the EU; that’s why they have chosen me. Let’s imagine now that the TRNC is recognized by the entire world. You can’t have a division as in the old times. What you can have is a federation. A federation that is not established by the signatures of two communities, but by two states. This wouldn’t change the outcome. Wouldn’t we be much more comfortable setting up that federation? We would be. The ultimate result will not be any different from the one we are targeting. We will still have a federal Cyprus.”
Mr Talat went on and added that if there was not for the Turkish ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), he could not have become “president”. “If the AKP had not changed Turkey’s policy, neither would I have sat in this chair, nor would the Annan Plan be submitted to voting, leave aside to be accepted. Think that in the year 2000 I participated in the election and I received 10%. Five years later I gathered the 56% of the votes”, he stated.
GUNES reports on the same issue under the title “Shame! What kind of president is this?” and writes that Talat says in Erdal Guven’s book that when the occupation regime was established, he was so sad he cried for the first time in his life.
VOLKAN also refers to the issue in its first page noting that Talat stated that he was against the establishment of the “TRNC”.
HALKIN SESI reports on the same issue under the title “Talat: When the CTP said yes to the TRNC I cried”.
http://www.moi.gov.cy/moi/pio/pio.nsf/A ... enDocument
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