Turkish Cypriots express discontent with Russians

They do not need to take the place of the Greek Cypriots

The Turkish Cypriot Presidency said that the Turkish Cyprus side was bothered by Russian diplomats behaving like ‘Greek Cypriot Diplomats’” in UN Security Council meetings. The Presidential Spokesman said: “Russia does not need to take the place of Greek Cypriots and get involved with the issues related to the details of the Cyprus Problem.”

“Like the Spokesperson of the Greek side”Spokesman Ercakica pointed to the fact that northern Cyprus is highly disturbed by Russian diplomats acting like “Spokespersons of the Greek Cypriot side” in talks related to Cyprus in the UN.

He further continued by saying: “They are eager to bring up issues that they don’t know in detail, in Security Council meetings.”
While pointing out that what they went through concerning the Yesilirmak Gate incident, he said that the Russians did not need to act like this.

Nesteronko unhappyIn a statement in the Greek Cypriot newspaper Fileleftheros, Russia’s Ambassador to Cyprus, Andrey Nesterenko mentioned Moscow’s discontent with Turkish Cypriot President Mehmet Ali Talat’s statements in the Russian magazine ‘Expert’.

While expressing his discontent with Talat’s comments against Russia, Nesterenko also claimed that the statements were not only geared towards Russia but also towards other countries and added that it is impossible for him to accept the accusations. The Ambassador disagreed when Talat stated: “Russia is inhibiting the development of Turkish Cypriots” and said that Russia’s attitude towards the Cyprus Problem has always been clear and said that “They did not even hint at trying to abash Turkish Cypriots.”

Nesterenko stated that they are acting within the framework of the Security Council’s decisions and added that Russia’s standing is in favour of Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots finding a solution to the Cyprus Problem together, since they will be the ones who will be living with the solution.

“Why are we not discontent with US?”

In response to Nesteronko’s attempts to pull other UN Security council members to his side, Cyprus Turkish Presidency Spokesman Ercakica said: “The US also states that they are behind or supportive of Security Council decisions. Why are we unhappy with Russia and not with the USA? While reports that were handed to the Security Council are being discussed or decisions are taken regarding Cyprus, Russian diplomats go into details and try to take the Greek Cypriot attitude further, trying to result in decisions. This is what we are unhappy with.”

Talat’s interviewIn the interview written by Olga Vlasova in the September 2007 edition of the liberally inclined ‘Expert’ magazine whose weekly circulation is about 90,000, Turkish Cypriot President Mehmet Ali Talat answered the question “Have there been any changes in relations with Russia in the last years?” as follows:

“Unfortunately there were no positive improvements in this area. Russia is like a giant transatlantic liner for which it is very difficult to change its route. As far as I remember, we last got together with Russian Minister of Foreign affairs Sergey Lavrov in Istanbul, after the referendum in the spring of 2004. After that time, we never met again and I can say that Russia’s attachment to the solution of the Cyprus Problem has completely extinguished. It is not easy for me to say these to you but today, in relation to every issue concerning us, including the UN Security Council, Russia generally acts as an ally of Greek Cyprus. I think it is not nice for such a big country as Russia to act in this manner. Besides we very well know that, if Russia changes its attitude on northern Cyprus, the solution to the Problem can be reached very quickly”.