The office of the European Union in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) is harming the country’s status, TRNC Foreign Minister Tahsin Ertuğruloğlu said Wednesday, also criticizing the efforts of the Greek Cypriot side to involve the bloc in bilateral issues.
In a written statement, Ertuğruloğlu reiterated that his Greek Cypriot counterpart Constantinos Kombos asked the EU to play a vital role regarding the Cyprus question while using the EU against other countries to prevent the recognition of the TRNC.
“The EU maintains a so-called 'support office’ with diplomatic immunity in the TRNC, which it does not recognize as a state. This office is sabotaging the status and foundations of the TRNC with every activity, and the EU is not ashamed of this!” Ertuğruloğlu underlined, saying that it is a contradiction that the EU has an office with immunity in a country it does not recognize.
He added that relations between the TRNC and the EU must be reviewed.
The island has been mired in a decadeslong dispute between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots despite a series of diplomatic efforts by the U.N. to achieve a comprehensive settlement.
It has recently seen an on-and-off peace process, including a failed 2017 initiative in Switzerland under the auspices of guarantor countries Türkiye, Greece and the United Kingdom.
The Greek Cypriot administration entered the EU in 2004, the same year Greek Cypriots thwarted the U.N. Annan Plan to end the longstanding dispute.
Today, Turkish Cyprus supports a solution based on the equal sovereignty of the two states on the island. On the other hand, the Greek side wants a federal solution based on the hegemony of the Greeks.
