Atalay stated that Cyprus’ EU Presidency would cause a real crisis between Turkey and the EU

Ankara Anatolia news agency (18.09.11) reported that Turkey’s Deputy Prime Minister for Cyprus affairs Besir Atalay told Turkish Cypriot Bayrak Radio and TV on Saturday that a real crisis would occur between Turkey and the European Union (EU) if the Greek Cypriots undertook the rotating presidency of the Union in 2012.

Atalay said that if Cyprus negotiations failed and EU handed over its rotating presidency to the “Greek Cypriot administration” in 2012, the real crisis would emerge between the Union and Turkey, “because we will freeze our relations with the EU”, he added.

Atalay said Turkey hoped a fair settlement satisfying both parties would be reached in Cyprus, and the two nations would live in peace and order, therefore Turkey was supporting Dervis Eroglu, the “president of the TRNC” to succeed in the ongoing negotiations.

He also said that the Greek Cypriot initiatives to explore oil and natural gas in the Mediterranean had messed up things, and defined it a political maneuver as it made use of the current atmosphere of Turkish-Israeli relations. “Turkey will never let a tension,” Atalay said.

He said that Turkey would always stand by the Turkish Cypriots whether an agreement was made with the Greek Cypriots or not.

Deputy Prime Minister Atalay later left “TRNC” for Ankara. He was on a four-day illegal visit to the “TRNC”.