Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus Prime Minister Ünal Üstel criticized the speech by Nikos Christodoulidis, leader of the Greek Cypriot Administration of Southern Cyprus, at the United Nations General Assembly. Üstel said there were two peoples and two states on the island of Cyprus and that the Greek Cypriot Administration of Southern Cyprus could not change this reality.
In a statement issued Thursday by the Prime Ministry’s Directorate of Press and Public Relations, Üstel said the Turkish Cypriot people would continue on their path with their own will and determination, relying on the support of strong Türkiye and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
Üstel argued that regardless of how much support the Greek Cypriot Administration of Southern Cyprus received, it could not change the realities on the island. Saying that the Turkish Cypriot people possessed sovereignty, Üstel stated that others would not be allowed to decide the future of the Turkish Cypriot people.
Claim that Turkish Cypriots were excluded from the joint state
Üstel accused the Greek Cypriot Administration of Southern Cyprus of seizing control of the Republic of Cyprus, established in 1960, and excluding Turkish Cypriots from the joint state.
The Foreign Ministry of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus also condemned Christodoulidis’s speech. The ministry said the speech ignored what Turkish Cypriots had experienced, distorted the facts concerning the Cyprus issue and leveled baseless accusations against Türkiye.
The ministry also rejected Christodoulidis’s remarks about President Erdoğan. The statement argued that references to international law and the United Nations Charter ignored the will of the Turkish Cypriot people and the historical realities on the island.
Emphasis on sovereign equality for a lasting solution
The Foreign Ministry of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus said reaching a lasting agreement on the island depended on the international community recognizing the sovereign equality and equal international status of Turkish Cypriots. The ministry said policies that ignored Turkish Cypriots would end in failure.
The island of Cyprus has been divided since 1974 into a Turkish Cypriot north and a Greek Cypriot south. In 2004, Greek Cypriots rejected a plan prepared by the United Nations to unite the island’s two sides.
Talks to reunify Cyprus, held under United Nations auspices in the Swiss town of Crans-Montana, ended without agreement in July 2017. No formal negotiations mediated by the United Nations have been held to resolve the dispute since then.
