Turkish Cypriot daily Yeni Duzen newspaper (28.03.14) reports that the former Turkish Cypriot leader, Mehmet Ali Talathas said that if the Greek Cypriots did not want a solution, they would not have invited him to give a lecture in Limassol. Replying to a question in an interview with the paper’s editor-in-chief, Cenk Mutluyakali, Talat said yesterday that he did not go by himself to Limassol. He noted that the Mayor of the city received him in a very warm manner and was saddened because of the incidents.

Referring to the ultranationalist ELAM movement, which had caused incidents the night before yesterday during his lecture, Talat said: “These are not the Greek Cypriot majority. If the state takes measures, it is possible for them to be isolated and I think that this is a must for creating a culture of peace in Cyprus”.

Talat noted that a great interest was exhibited for his lecture in Limassol and pointed out that the pro-peace persons were much more than those who oppose peace.He stated that the only positive aspect of ELAM’s “shameful attack” will be the measures that will be taken by the Cypriot government. He also expressed the view that their conference was successful, that they gave the messages which they wanted to give and that these messages were understood.

He went on and said: “We discussed the opposite of what ELAM did. Our aim was to take a step for creating a culture of peace, for understanding each other. We achieved this. We completed the conference successfully. We understood once more that even though we use the same terms, we refer to different meanings. For example, when we talk about ‘federation’, the Turkish Cypriots understand this differently than the Greek Cypriots.These should be discussed by creating a common language. I would not say that the confidence building measures have been wrongly discussed in our country, but they could not be successful. This is due to the content. Because, in my view, the content of the confidence building measures must not be directed towards the substance of the Cyprus problem. For example, the opening of Varosha and the Tymbou airport. However, these are parts of the Cyprus problem. I have made other proposals so that these failures to be turned into successes. We discussed them within the scope of confidence building measures. For example, the opening of a common school in the buffer zone, it could be a university…”

When the journalist referred to ELAM’s attack, saying that it is the first time that after such an attack, a Government Spokesman of the Republic of Cyprus stated that “we are ashamed” and expressing the view that “some mentalities are changing”, Talat replied that this protest “was good in this sense” and added: “Actually this action could very easily be prevented. That is, the police in a very legal and legitimate manner should not have allowed these people to approach the building, because they were not coming to protest peacefully, they were trying to break the doors, they were aggressive. All these happened in front of the eyes of the police and the police did not interfere. Therefore, this caused a great sensitivity in the Greek Cypriot government”.

Answering another question, Talat said that he is used to such incidents and added that he had come face to face with such protests by Turkish Cypriots in London in 2002, when the British police was forced to lead him out of the building through the back door. Another incident, he said, was experienced in the Turkish city of Trabzon, when all the reservations he had made in hotels were annulled. He noted that he was able to find a place to stay after interference by some politicians.