President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Thursday welcomed Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) President Tufan Erhürman at the Presidential Complex as both leaders underlined the continuation of strong ties.
Erhürman was greeted in an official ceremony at the Presidency.
The relations between Türkiye and the TRNC are of a special nature and incomparable with those of other nations, Erhürman said.
Erhürman earlier also met with Parliament Speaker Numan Kurtulmuş in the capital Ankara.
Kurtulmuş underlined that Türkiye and the TRNC, hand in hand, will continue to defend the cause of the Turkish Cypriots on all international platforms.
He said that they always bring the just cause of the TRNC to the agenda in all international platforms they participate in and strive for its international recognition.
“Although not enough progress has been made yet, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus is now becoming an internationally recognized state, in a way that is incomparable to the past,” Kurtulmuş elaborated.
Saying that there is no other path than a two-state solution on the island, Kurtulmuş added that both nations may live in harmony side by side.
“The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus and the Republic of Türkiye have acquired the ability to act together in every field in a perfect manner that even the term ‘cooperation’ is inadequate. There may be differences of opinion, there may be differences of political stance, but ultimately, Türkiye and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus will continue to work together, side by side, arm in arm, toward their shared national goals.”
Kurtulmuş said that the latest developments have also shown the importance of Türkiye’s guarantorship. “If Türkiye had not been a guarantor, God forbid, perhaps the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus would have become a place like Gaza by now.”
Kurtulmuş emphasized the close relationship between the two countries’ Parliaments and said that their friendship groups are also working closely.
He noted that, with Azerbaijan’s participation, significant work has been carried out within the Parliaments of the two countries over the past two years, embracing the “one nation, three states” approach. He said that with the continuation of this work, they will continue their struggle to make the TRNC a stronger and more capable country in every field.
Erhürman was elected on Oct. 19.
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.
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. 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.
