'Turkey never ignores any solutions on Cyprus'

By Sibel Morrow

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey never ignores any solutions on Cyprus as it is a "national cause for us", the country's foreign minister said on Monday.

"Cyprus is our national cause. The equality and security of the Turkish Cypriot people are indispensable. On this basis, we do not exclude any solution," Mevlut Cavusoglu said at the 11th Ambassadors' Conference.

He added: "Our message to everyone interested in the [Eastern Mediterranean] region is the same. If you cooperate with us, everyone wins."

Turkey has consistently contested the Greek Cypriot administration’s unilateral drilling in the Eastern Mediterranean, asserting that the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) also has rights to the resources in the area.

In 1974, following a coup aiming at Cyprus’s annexation by Greece, Ankara had to intervene as a guarantor power. In 1983, the TRNC was founded.

The decades since have seen several attempts to resolve the Cyprus dispute, all ending in failure. The latest one, held with the participation of the guarantor countries -- Turkey, Greece, and the U.K. -- came to an end without any progress in 2017 in Switzerland.