Türkiye and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) have decried a recent statement by the United Nations Security Council on the island for violating the principles of sovereign equality and impartiality.
In a statement, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said on Thursday: "Detached from the realities on the ground, the U.N. Security Council continues to insist on a settlement model from which the Turkish Cypriot side has openly withdrawn its support and which has been tried and has failed many times.
"All parties should realize that a federal settlement goal no longer reflects the sovereign will of the Turkish Cypriot people."
The reaction came after the U.N. Security Council issued a joint statement encouraging renewed engagement on the island after recent elections.
The council called on all sides to show openness, flexibility and compromise to return to formal negotiations to achieve a comprehensive and just settlement based on a "bicommunal, bizonal federation with political equality."
Responding to the council’s call, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said: "Instead of promoting a settlement in Cyprus, this Security Council stance, which is increasingly distant from the basis provided by the U.N. Secretary-General’s reports, is fueling the Greek Cypriot side’s intransigent attitude that disregards the Turkish Cypriots, the ancient and original co-owners of the Island.
"We expect the Security Council to comprehend the fact that the Turkish Cypriots have withdrawn their support from the settlement model discussed in the past," the ministry added.
Türkiye reiterated that a just, lasting and sustainable settlement to be reached in Cyprus must reflect the will of the two peoples on the island and cannot be imposed by third parties.
"We call on the U.N. Security Council and the international community to consider the fact that there are two separate peoples and two separate states on the Island of Cyprus and to reaffirm the inherent rights of the Turkish Cypriot people, namely their sovereign equality and equal international status.
"We underline that this is an indispensable precondition for the start of any new negotiation process towards the settlement of the Cyprus issue," the ministry said.
Turkish Cyprus reaction
The TRNC, too, on Wednesday slammed the council’s statement, saying that it served "the interests of the Greek Cypriot side; contains impositions on the other side only through the views of one side, is against the principle of impartiality and is unacceptable for us."
"The Greek side, benefiting from the continuation of the status quo on the island, has no intention of making any effort to reach an agreement.
"The Greek Cypriot side, which has rejected every opportunity to reach an agreement for 50 years, is now attempting to deceive the world by pretending to support the previously tried and exhausted formulas. The Greek Cypriot side is attempting to use the UNSC as a tool for this game," it added.
The Security Council’s statement also followed a proposal by U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to appoint a U.N. envoy who could "explore ways to reach common ground toward resuming talks for a lasting settlement in Cyprus."
Guterres said in a report that a peaceful and shared future on the divided island of Cyprus "truly remains possible" through meaningful and results-oriented negotiations.
Commending the governments of Greece and Türkiye for the positive shift in relations, he urged the two leaders in Cyprus to re-engage in talks to resolve the decadeslong dispute.
Guterres said the underlying positions of the two sides on the peace process remained far apart, but the first face-to-face meeting with Greek Cypriot leader Nikos Christodoulides and Turkish Cypriot President Ersin Tatar was a "positive step" in establishing a connection.
Cyprus issue
Cyprus 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.
After ethnic attacks in the early 1960s and a Greek Cypriot coup aimed at Greece’s annexation in 1974, Türkiye launched a military intervention, dubbed Cyprus Peace Operation, as a guarantor power to protect Turkish Cypriots from persecution and violence, eventually leading to the foundation of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) in 1983.
An international embargo against Turkish Cyprus is currently in place in several areas that allow access to international communications, postal services and transport only through Türkiye.
The TRNC has been committed to demanding a two-state solution that would ensure international recognition and equal sovereignty and status, something the Greek Cypriots reject out of hand.
The island has seen an on-and-off peace process in recent years. U.N.-backed reunification talks have been in limbo since the last round collapsed at Crans-Montana, Switzerland, in July 2017 between guarantor countries Türkiye, Greece and the U.K.
The Greek Cypriot administration joined 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.
Türkiye, which has the longest continental coastline in the Eastern Mediterranean, also rejects maritime boundary claims by Greece and the Greek Cypriot administration, stressing that their excessive claims violate the sovereign rights of Türkiye and the Turkish Cypriots.