Impossible to neglect Turkish Cypriots, says Turkish foreign minister

By Muhammet Ikbal Arslan

LEFKOSA, Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (AA) - Türkiye continues defending the rights of its citizens and the Turkish Cypriots’ within the framework of its “entrepreneurial and humanitarian foreign policy,” the Turkish foreign minister said Monday.

Mevlut Cavusoglu is on a visit to Lefkosa, the capital of Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC).

Stressing strong ties between the two countries, the Turkish foreign minister told his Turkish Cypriot counterpart Tahsin Ertugruloglu that it is “impossible” for Ankara to “neglect the TRNC and its people.”

Referring to the negotiation process on Cyprus, Cavusoglu said Ankara reiterates its stance on every platform, including the UN, and with other stakeholders.

"A two-state solution in Cyprus is needed. Negotiations need to start between two equal sovereign states,” he added.

Türkiye and the TRNC will also evaluate the steps they can take on the diplomatic and political level, Cavusoglu said.

“We are also making intensive efforts to increase the visibility and status of the TRNC on the international platform.

“We have intensified our contacts in order to open new representative offices in the countries that the TRNC deems appropriate,” Turkish foreign minister recalled.

"In line with our common vision, we will continue to defend together our national cause," Cavusoglu said in a tweet.

- Clean page in Cyprus

For his part, Ertugruloglu said that they continue to defend the “national” Cyprus case.

“The negotiation process, which has been going on for almost 60 years and is called 'inter-communal negotiations', collapsed in Crans Montana in 2017.

“As of 2017, a clean page was opened. There are two separate sovereign equal states and two states with equal international rights on this Island,” he added.

“A reality that has been ignored for all these years, but that has always existed, has come to the forefront as a reality that is no longer denied,” he stated.

Ertugruloglu said that negotiations in Cyprus can only begin on the basis of the recognition of two sovereign equal states, with good neighborly relations aimed at shaping the future.

"The ball is in the court of the international community regarding Cyprus," Ertugruloglu said.

Cyprus was divided into a Turkish Cypriot state in the north and a Greek Cypriot administration in the south after a 1974 military coup by Greece was followed by violence against the island’s Turks and Türkiye's intervention as a guarantor power.

The status of the island remains unresolved, in spite of a series of negotiations over the years.

*Writing by Merve Berker