“There has been peace for 50 years”
“There is no longer a question of confederation or federation in Cyprus, it's over,” Turkish Defense Minister Yasar Guler said, adding that Turkey does not accept any other solution than the equal sovereign functioning of two states. The Turkish Minister also said that Greece, which is a member of NATO, would be happy to buy the F35. As he said “the F-35 alone does not constitute a capability against Turkey in the Aegean. This should be well understood by all”.
In an interview with the Turkish channel CNNTurk, Yasar Güler, when asked about the Eurofighter fighter jets, “said that it is not an aircraft that belongs only to our German friends, it is a joint venture, there is also Britain and Spain. We want to buy this aircraft, we've been saying that from the beginning, and there are some things that our German friends are obsessive about, they say 'you can't do this or that'. As a member of an organization like NATO, however, we cannot accept such a thing. We don't accept it and share with our friends every time that we don't accept it. I personally believe that this issue will be resolved in a short period of time.”
Regarding the purchase of American F-35 fighters from Greece, the Turkish Minister said that “Greece is a member of NATO, it buys F-35, we will be happy to do so. But the F-35 alone does not constitute a capability against Turkey in the Aegean. This should be well understood by everyone.”
When asked if it is something that is wrongly evaluated, Yasar Guler replied: “Absolutely. This cannot be true, I personally take it as an insult to the Turkish Armed Forces. 'I'm going to buy an F-35'. So what? 'I will dominate everything!'? This approach is unacceptable. But of course, as a member of NATO, we would be happy if Greece owns F-35, as a member of NATO too”.
“There are issues we can agree on”
When asked about Greek-Turkish relations and if the problems have been left behind and there is now optimism, the Turkish Minister said that “the war today is very difficult and every war it means a disaster. We do not desire bad relations with any of our friends and neighbors. And we express it at every opportunity”.
However, he said that “this does not mean that we will become friends forgetting our national interests. We don't say that, but there are things we can agree on. Let's find out what those are first, that's our point. We are talking about Confidence Building Measures, let's build trust, let's build trust between us first and then the other issues that need to be discussed, of course they will be discussed when the time comes. Now we are only trying to improve the friendship with Trust Building Measures. First of all let's talk about issues we can agree on”.
The Turkish Minister said that “we don't necessarily need to carry out an activity in the Aegean every day. However, as I have already said, there is no question of compromising our national interests”.
Two ‘states’ in Cyprus
Regarding the Cyprus issue, the Turkish Minister asserted that “there has been peace there for 50 years, you know that this year is the 50th anniversary, there has been peace for 50 years”. “The Turkish Army went there in 1974. We brought peace and stability to the Greek Cypriot side as well. Now they are only concerned with progress. For 50 years there was no conflict, no war. Therefore, we brought peace and stability to both the north and the south. Of course, Cyprus is our national issue and we cannot abandon it. There is no more question of confederation or federation in Cyprus, it is over. This is over. Equal sovereign functioning of two states there: a solution can only be found in this way. We do not accept any other solution”.
