Türkiye believes the most realistic way to resolve the Cyprus issue is to have two states on the ethnically divided island, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Thursday, adding that there was no point in holding negotiations that would yield no results.
Erdoğan was speaking alongside Tufan Erhürman, who arrived in Ankara on his first official visit since being elected the new president of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) in October.
“The Greek Cypriot side sees the solution for Cyprus as reducing Turkish Cypriots to a minority status in a partnership state that is now defunct,” Erdoğan said, adding Türkiye maintained its belief that there was a formula in which the two sides could live in peace on the island.
“Our stance on the Cyprus issue has always been clear,” he noted. “We believe the most realistic solution to the Cyprus issue lies in the existence of two states on the island.”
The island has been mired in a decades-long dispute between Greek and Turkish Cypriots, despite a series of diplomatic efforts by the U.N. to achieve a comprehensive settlement. The Greek Cyprots have sought a federal solution.
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. The country is fully recognized only by Türkiye, which does not recognize the Greek Cypriot administration in the south.
The island has seen an on-and-off peace process in recent years, but negotiations have been stalled since 2017. Erhürman advocates the resumption of the formal negotiations with the Greek Cypriot side.
Former TRNC President Ersin Tatar repeatedly met with Greek Cypriot leaders in informal talks brokered by the U.N., but those negotiations did not yield any concrete results for the final status of Cyprus.
Erhürman said all parties must “learn a lesson” from past methods that yielded no results or ended unsuccessfully.
“The Turkish Cypriot people are one of the two founding partners of the island, and this status for my people is neither open to debate, negotiation, nor bargaining. The Turkish Cypriot people, under this status, have sovereign rights across all of the island of Cyprus,” he said, referring also to energy and hydrocarbon resources.
“Nobody should expect us to walk on a path that has been tried numerous times in the past and led nowhere,” he said, adding there was no point in holding talks if the Greek Cypriot side was not willing to sincerely explore a solution.
Advancing relations between Türkiye and the TRNC “will be one of my most important priorities,” Erhürman said.
“This is not only due to the unshakable brotherhood between our countries, but also because Türkiye’s role as guarantor makes Turkish Cypriots feel secure,” he noted.
Erhürman said their effort is directed toward a fair and lasting peace, stressing that any solution in the region that ignores Türkiye and the Turkish Cypriots “will not serve lasting peace.”
