“WE WILL CONTINUE TO SUPPORT THE TURKISH MINORITY IN WESTERN THRACE” Wishing Allah’s mercy upon Dr. Sadık Ahmet, the legendary leader of the Turkish minority in Western Thrace, on the 29th anniversary of his passing, President Erdoğan noted that the late Sadık Ahmet’s efforts had a great role in the current gains of the Turkish minority in Western Thrace, and added: “We benefit from our developing dialogue with Greece regarding the preservation of the rights of the Turkish minority in Western Thrace as well. The problems of our kinsmen in Western Thrace are always a top item on the agenda our talks with Greek officials. We especially follow the matters concerning freedom of religion and worship as well as education rights. We follow all the steps taken by Greece, and make necessary interventions when necessary. We will inshallah continue to support the Turkish minority in Western Thrace from now on as well.” “PEACE OPERATION WAS CROWNED WITH THE PROCLAMATION OF TRNC” Pointing out that the same applies to the usurped rights of the Turkish Cypriot people, President Erdoğan stated that the Turkish Cypriot people has been exposed to injustice, unlawfulness and discrimination for almost three quarter centuries since 1960s, President Erdoğan went on to say: “Most of us remember like yesterday the massacres that were carried out between 1963 and 1974. We can never forget the burned villages, the murdered children and the tragedy of our Turkish Cypriot brothers and sisters sought to be confined to merely the 3 per cent of the Island. The Western institutions and organizations did nothing in the face of all these oppressions. They just watched from afar the attempts for an ethnic cleansing against the Turkish Cypriot people, just as they watch the Gaza genocide today. Türkiye, with the July 20, 1974 Peace Operation, broke the dirty and bloody hands undermining the existence of the Turkish Cypriot people. The Peace Operation was crowned with the proclamation of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus in 1983. However, the policies aimed at breaking the will of independence of the Turkish Cypriots have increasingly continued since then.” “PROPOSALS FOR FEDERALISM ARE OUT OF THE QUESTION” President Erdoğan continued as follows: “Lately, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, which voted for the Annan Plan in 2004, was punished, whereas the Greek Cypriots, who voted against the Plan, were awarded by being granted a full membership to the European Union. And unfortunately, no result has been obtained from the negotiation tables sat at afterwards. We already accept that nothing can be achieved through old methods. Proposals for federalism are out of the question for us and the Turkish Cypriots. We as the homeland and a guarantor country explicitly laid bare once again our stance on the 50th anniversary of the Peace Operation. We observed with great enthusiasm the July 20 Peace and Freedom Day of the Turkish Cypriot people with the participation of a large delegation from our country. Thus, we have once again declared to the entire world the importance we attach to the Cyprus cause and the independence of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. Our goal is to increase the recognition of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. We are determined to follow up the steps we have taken within the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the Organization of Turkic States. In the similar vein, we maintain our support and investments in order for the Turkish Cypriot people to stand on their own feet.” Stating that they are overcoming the problems in economy, President Erdoğan said that they have started to see the positive results of the Medium Term Programme in economy, and added: “We believe that we have left behind the worst scenario regarding inflation. It will inshallah decrease in a more perceivable manner from now on. The balloon of prices inflated by the excessive greed of profiting is deflating in some sectors. We see that acts of pricing have started to become coherent with market realities. This balancing will further strengthen and continue in the period ahead. We will definitely lower inflation to our target levels by the end of the year. That the main actors in the market acknowledge this is a proof of the solidity of our roadmap in economy. Credit rating agencies have also recently made more objective assessments on the Turkish economy. Moody’s upgrade of our credit rating by two points last week was the latest example of this.”