Northern Cyprus premier pays 1st official visit to Türkiye since assuming power

By Aynur Ekiz, Abdullah Yasin Guler and Muhammet Ikbal Arslan

ANKARA (AA) - The new government of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) will make every effort to fully implement the financial protocol signed with Türkiye for the TRNC’s economic development, the country’s prime minister said Tuesday.

During his first official visit to Türkiye since assuming power two weeks ago, Unal Ustel met with Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay.

"Our government will make every effort to fully implement the financial protocol, which is extremely important for the economic progress and development of the TRNC, as soon as possible," said Ustel, speaking at a joint press conference with Oktay at the Presidential Complex.

"Necessary facilities have been provided for the TRNC economy to have a sustainable structure, stand on its own feet, and (for) Turkish Cypriot people to improve their living standards and to increase their welfare level with the protocol signed for 2022."

Expressing his happiness over paying his first official visit to the Turkish homeland as prime minister, Ustel thanked Oktay for Ankara’s invitation.

He underlined that the worldwide economic crisis, the war between Russia and Ukraine, and the difficulties caused by the coronavirus pandemic had adversely affected the TRNC as well as all other countries, adding the national economy experienced a recession.

For his part, Oktay said they discussed the reforms and structural revisions that need to be made with a Turkish Cypriot-oriented perspective during their meeting.

"We all want a sustainable Northern Cyprus where not short-term plans for the future but medium and long-term goals are discussed," he said.

He said that as part of the Türkiye-TRNC 2021 Economic and Monetary Cooperation Agreement, Türkiye had allocated 4.25 billion Turkish liras ($259 million) to the TRNC government.

"The sole purpose of the cooperation protocol is to strengthen the TRNC structurally in all areas and to create the necessary conditions for it to be self-sufficient," he noted.

Touching on the informal meeting that took place in line with a call by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, he said the Turkish side manifested a vision that is grounded and based on the sovereign equality and equal international status of the two sides on the island.

Later, Ustel met with Turkish Parliament Speaker Mustafa Sentop.

Sentop said Türkiye supports the just cause of the Turkish Cypriots to the end, adding all political parties in the Turkish parliament set aside their differences when it comes to the TRNC.

Cyprus has been mired in a decades-long dispute between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, despite a series of diplomatic efforts by the UN to achieve a comprehensive settlement.

Ethnic attacks starting in the early 1960s forced Turkish Cypriots to withdraw into enclaves for their safety.

In 1974, a Greek Cypriot coup aimed at Greece’s annexation of the island led to Türkiye’s military intervention as a guarantor power to protect Turkish Cypriots from persecution and violence. As a result, the TRNC was founded in 1983.

It has seen an on-and-off peace process in recent years, including a failed 2017 initiative in Switzerland under the auspices of guarantor countries Türkiye, Greece and the UK.

The Greek Cypriot administration entered the European Union in 2004, the same year Greek Cypriots thwarted a UN plan to end the longstanding dispute.