Eroglu: Turkish Cypriots are more “pure” than the Greek Cypriots

Eroglu: There are Turkish people in Cyprus since 1571. We are more pure than the Greeks, because we know where we came from

FAMAGUSTA GAZETTE
5/4/2012

THE TURKISH CYPRIOT leader Dervis Eroglu has made one of his most provocative statements to date when he claimed Turkish Cypriots are more “pure” than the Greek Cypriots because “we know where we have come from, but I honestly do not know where they came from”.

According to the daily Gunes newspaper, he alleged that the Greek Cypriots want the Turkish Cypriots to become a minority in the Republic of Cyprus and claimed: “We will become a minority in the Republic of Cyprus and in time [we] will be called ‘Cyprus people’. They will create the climate that there are no Turks. ‘There is a Cyprus nation’, they will say. There are Turkish people in Cyprus since 1571. We are more pure than the Greeks, because we know where we came from. I honestly do not know where they came from”.

He added: “If you give Christofias what he wants, there will be no land for us to live in Cyprus. Christofias says: ‘You should send back everybody who came from Turkey and land will remain for the rest’. You say that you know the international law. When a nation gives citizenship to a person, this citizenship is under the protection of the constitution. Furthermore, we have given citizenship to Turks. You have given to people from Russia and other countries”.

Arguing that the letter he had sent to the UN Secretary-General “shocked some circles”, Eroglu reiterated that President Christofias rejects the proposal for holding an international conference without a solution to the internal aspects of the Cyprus problem.

— Copyright © Famagusta Gazette 2012

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