Eurasia Press & News
Turkish President Abdullah Gül paid a two-day visit to Cyprus last weekend to mark the Peace and Freedom Festival and the 40th anniversary of Turkey’s peace operation on the island.
In remarks at the festival, Gül stressed the need for an immediate solution to the Cyprus issue, and added that Turkey won’t allow the current status quo, which caused Turkish Cypriots to become victims of deadlock, to continue forever.
Describing the peace operation as a “turning point,” Gül said Turkey fulfills all its responsibilities as a motherland to the Turkish Cypriot people.
“It is unfair and a great contradiction to make the Turkish side pay the cost of the hard-line policies that the Greek side has been pursuing for years. Therefore, steps to end the groundless and unfair restrictions and embargoes imposed upon the Turkish Cypriots must be taken so they are lifted without further delay,” Gül said in a written statement released by the President’s Office on Sunday.
