Zorlu Töre, president of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) Republican Assembly, said, "Although some European countries or the United States pamper Greece, they cannot ignore Türkiye due to its geographical location and size."
Töre expressed his evaluations to Anadolu Agency (AA) regarding the increasing provocations of Greece against Türkiye, the Cyprus problem and the ongoing hydrocarbon explorations in the Eastern Mediterranean.
Criticizing the attitude of Greece toward Türkiye as a result of the developments in the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean, Töre emphasized that the goals that Greece and Greek Cypriots set in the past in the Aegean Sea, Cyprus, Thrace and Anatolia continue.
"Although some European countries or America pamper Greece, they cannot ignore Türkiye due to its geographical location and size," Töre said and emphasized that Türkiye gave the necessary answer on every platform.
Töre reiterated that he made his first official visit to Türkiye after he was elected as the speaker of the parliament in March and said that the relationship between the parliaments of the two countries is progressing in a good direction.
Touching on the tensions experienced in the 1960s, Töre said that Turkish Cypriots were never left alone due to the support from institutions such as the Turkish army and the Turkish Red Crescent (Kızılay).
Töre, who called the Peace Operation carried out by the Turkish army a "happy peace operation," said: "They unilaterally took the (Greek side) into the European Union. The United Nations Security Council made decisions in the same way. They are trying to question the Turkish army and Türkiye's presence on the island."
Töre reiterated that the Greek Cypriot administration is accepted as the only country on the island of Cyprus by the United Nations and the European Union and said, "The president of the Republic of Turkey gave a message on this issue. The world is bigger than five. For us, it is more than the EU.
"The biggest for us is Türkiye, the Turkish nation, the biggest army is the Turkish army. Therefore, what the U.N. and EU say is none of our business."
Cyprus has been mired in a decadeslong dispute between the Turkish and Greek Cypriots, despite a series of diplomatic efforts by the U.N. 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 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 United Kingdom.
The Greek Cypriot administration entered the European Union in 2004, the same year Greek Cypriots thwarted the U.N.'s Annan plan to end the longstanding dispute.
Today, the Turkish side 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.