ANKARA
Turkish Parliament Speaker Cemil Cicek has said, "if EU asks Turkey to decide on either full membership or Cyprus, then we will go with Cyprus thousand times."
Cicek came together with Hasan Bozer, the Parliament Speaker of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) in Turkish capital Ankara on Thursday.
Cicek highlighted that Turkey's relationship with TRNC was "a little bit extraordinary" and added, "This place is your home always. We are glad to hold talks, exchange ideas and discuss issues with you. Unfortunately, the peace in the island did not take place in this sense. Actually, there is peace in the North. The South's situation is to itself. I can not say a thing for that however there is an ongoing negotiations process. This process need to conclude positively."
Cicek underscored, "If EU lays Turkey's full membership in one of the pans of a scale and Cyprus into other one, and asks Turkey to pick either one of them, then we will definitely decide on Cyprus thousand times. Turkey will not get into such a nipper at all."
Cicek touched on the Cyprus issue and said that one of longest controversy of the United Nations was the Cyprus problem and noted, "As long as the Greek Cypriot side keeps this perception, a positive solution for this problem does not seem on the way. Because, unfortunately, it would be too optimistic to expect a positive step from EU which accepted Greek Cypriot side's membership to the bloc as the representative of the whole island."
Furthermore, Parliament Speaker of the TRNC, Bozer said, "Our biggest power in there is the continuity of having brothership bonds with our mother country. Time to time, there are attempts to damage our bonds however, we have such strong bonds that they do not influence us."
He added, the Cyprus issue was not just the problem of Turks nor Greek Cypriots, it had international dimensions and throughout the history, it took the attention of all states.
Bozer said, in the past few years, Greek Cypriots had such serious claims, demands and dreams of being the only leader of the island.
"Turkish existence have been in the island since 1571. Although it is ignored by the whole world, it is known that in all processes, that place has equal political rights," said Bozer.
He added that the Cyprus issue has to reach a solution now and that the extension of negotiations do not match with human rights and democracy.
