Türkiye and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) conducted difficult negotiations to secure the rights of Turkish Cypriots in the past that failed to reach a solution, largely because the Greek Cypriot side did not want to resolve the matter, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu stated on Tuesday.
The Turkish top diplomat spoke at the 13th Ambassadors Conference in the capital Ankara, where TRNC President Ersin Tatar addressed the ambassadors.
Emphasizing that the Turkish and TRNC foreign ministries have been defending the rights of the Turkish Cypriots for years, Çavuşoğlu said: "We had difficult negotiations in the past. We could not conclude due to the refusal of these negotiations, especially because the Greek Cypriot side refused any solution and they did not want to share anything with the Turkish Cypriots."
He noted that the Turkish side had said in Crans-Montana that it would not hold negotiations for a federal solution anymore and recalled that TRNC President Tatar emphasized this many times during his presidential campaign.
The foreign minister also underlined the Turkish Cypriot support for Tatar. "We defend the rights of Turkish Cypriots that were usurped. We want their rights back," he said.
Çavuşoğlu emphasized that “the sovereignty and international equal status of the Turkish Cypriots" should be recognized in the possible negotiations to be held in Cyprus. He also stated that this negotiation should be between two sovereign states, not between two communities.
"Despite all our positive approaches so far, the European Union tries to isolate the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus and the Turkish Cypriots. But we, as Turkish Foreign Affairs and the Republic of Türkiye, under the leadership of our President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, are making efforts to defend the rights of the Turkish Republic of Cyprus all over the world. We cannot say that we have achieved positive results in every field and on every platform. We know the difficulties, but we continue this struggle."
Çavuşoğlu added that TRNC President Tatar’s participation in the 5th Islamic Solidarity Games in central Turkey's Konya province and also his participation as an “observer” in the Organization of Turkic States are important for his future work.
Cyprus has been mired in a decadeslong dispute between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots despite a series of diplomatic efforts by the United Nations 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 Turkey'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 the guarantor countries Turkey, Greece, and the United Kingdom.
The Greek Cypriot administration entered the European Union in 2004, the same year Greek Cypriots thwarted a U.N. 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.
