President Talat voted against KKTC independence

One of the most intriguing sections of the book is about Talat’s feelings on Nov. 15, 1983, when the KKTC declared independence. Talat says here, “Discussions were going on with great intensity. The Republican Turkish Party (CTP) frequently published declarations that a separate state is partition; saying no to the division of the island and a separate state. On the night of Nov. 14, the CTP Party Council convened. Before the council’s meeting, [Rauf] Denktaş said, ‘We’ll declare the establishment of the KKTC tomorrow. Any party that goes against this we’ll be shut down.’ We discussed this until 5 in the morning. In the end we held the vote. The decision that came back, with 14 to 13 votes, was to support the decision to back the declaration. I, naturally, voted “No” given the circumstances of the day. What’s more, I did all I could so there wouldn’t be a yes vote in the end. I cried when I got home that night, for the first time in my life. I cried because I couldn’t believe how the CTP could do this. What got to me most was the inconsistency we showed. We should have voted no. Then we would have paid whatever consequences there might have been.”

In the book, Talat says his views haven’t changed today. “Declaring the KKTC’s establishment was the most wrong thing to do. It was obvious in the international atmosphere of the day that it would backfire against the Turkish side. Because there was the Cyprus Turkish Federal State. The Turkish side, with nationalistic enthusiasm, took a decision that caused it to cut the limb it was sitting on. This placed the Cypriot Turks in a difficult position, plus Turkey had to face harsh pressure in the world. It was an uncalculated move, it was not rational.”

He also said, “Coming to our day, the Cypriot Turks want a settlement; they want the EU; that’s why they have chosen me. Let’s imagine now that the KKTC is recognized by the entire world. You can’t have a division as in the old times. Whet you can have is a federation. A federation that is not established by the signatures of two communities, but by two states. This wouldn’t change the outcome. Wouldn’t we be much more comfortable setting up that federation? We would be. The ultimate result will not be any different from the one we are targeting. We will still have a federal Cyprus.”