Turkish Cypriot president receives ruling party officials from Türkiye, Azerbaijan

By Mehmet Kemal Firik

LEFKOSA, Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (AA) – The Turkish Cypriot president on Monday received officials from Türkiye and Azerbaijan.

Ersin Tatar of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) received Numan Kurtulmus, deputy chairman of Türkiye's Justice and Development (AK) Party, and Tahir Budagov, deputy chairman of Azerbaijan's governing New Azerbaijan Party, at the presidency in the capital Lefkosa.

For his part, Tatar said his country needed the two nations' support "to strengthen and sustain the TRNC, which is part of the Turkish world, and to further its national unity."

Referring to a decision last month to make the TRNC an observer in the Organization of Turkic States, Tatar said the move was "very valuable and important" for his country.

"These are important factors that will carry our existence into the future stages and developments," he added on the decision, taken at a leaders summit on Nov. 11.

Tatar also thanked Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev, who spearheaded effort to get the TRNC observer status in the organization with five full members and two other observers, and pointed out the increasing strategic importance of his country in the Eastern Mediterranean.

For his part, Kurtulmus said a three-party dialogue mechanism would be established with the participation of the ruling National Unity Party (UBP) from the TRNC, AK Party, and the New Azerbaijan Party.

He noted that in the future, other political parties from the Turkic world may also join the mechanism.

Emphasizing the historical roots of Azerbaijani-Turkish Cypriot relations, Budagov expressed hope for steps to advance the ties between the two countries.

Earlier on Monday, Kurtulmus and Budaqov held a press meeting titled "One nation, three states" with Oguzhan Hasipoglu, the National Unity Party's general secretary.