Türkiye, TRNC reject EU statement on TRNC’s observer status in Organization of Turkic States

ANKARA

Türkiye on Saturday rejected an EU statement in which the bloc expressed concerns on the admission of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) to the Organization of Turkic States as an observer member.

“As stated in the (Organization of Turkic States) Summit Declaration, the Turkish Cypriots are an inseparable part of the Turkic world, it is their natural right to establish and develop relations with the Turkic States in every field,” the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The ministry said the EU’s attempts “to hinder the Turkish Cypriot people to become a respectable member of the international community, are incompatible with goodwill, and they also once again clearly reveal the hypocrisy of the Union, which has been captivated by the vicious policies of the Greek Cypriot administration and Greece.”

“A just, lasting, and sustainable settlement on the Island of Cyprus can only be reached following a process that will be initiated with the reaffirmation of the inherent sovereign equality and equal international status of the Turkish Cypriot people, which have been usurped since 1963,” it added.

The international community needs to abandon its attitude that sees the Greek Cypriot side as the sole owner of the island and recognize the TRNC, said the ministry, adding: “Türkiye, by all means, will continue to stand by the TRNC and to be the voice of the Turkish Cypriots in all international platforms.”

Meanwhile, the TRNC presidency in a statement said the EU has once again shown its biased approach.

The EU statement’s aim is to isolate the Turkish Cypriots from the world, and attach them with the Greek Cypriots under the guise of a federation, it added.

TRNC Prime Minister Unal Ustel also condemned the EU, saying that there are two separate, sovereign states in Cyprus and this fact will be accepted by the world sooner or later.

Cyprus issue

The island has been mired in a decades-long dispute between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, despite a series of diplomatic efforts 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 Türkiye’s military intervention as a guarantor power to protect Turkish Cypriots from persecution and violence. 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 UK.

The Greek Cypriot administration was admitted to the EU in 2004, the same year when Greek Cypriots thwarted a UN plan to end the longstanding dispute.

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