Foreign Minister of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) Tahsin Ertuğruloğlu went to Ankara as the official guest of Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavusoğlu. The two ministers met at the Foreign Ministry and after the meeting inter-delegation meetings were realized.
After their meeting Ertuğruloğlu made a joint press conference with Çavuşoğlu.
In his speech at the press conference, Foreign Minister Tahsin Ertuğruloğlu said, “The inter-communal negotiations process is over. Inter-communal negotiations process is out of question. It is not possible to discuss the federation. If we are talking about sovereign equality, aiming a federation is already against political science. There is no sovereignty in the federation.”
Minister Ertuğruloğlu stated that the sovereign peoples will not establish a federation and adding that, “If the sovereign peoples are to establish a partnership as the sovereign state owner, it is a confederation. Therefore, there is no possibility to negotiate federation.”
Stating that the Cyprus Issue is going through a critical phase, Minister Çavuşoğlu mentioned that the negotiations in Cyprus had failed because the Greek Cypriot side refused to recognise the political equality of the Turkish Cypriots or share power with them.
The Turkish Foreign Minister said that they have proposed an unofficial 5+1 meeting which is important in terms of determining what will be negotiated.
Çavuşoğlu added that sovereign equality must be negotiated and a two-state solution is not only the thesis of Turkey but it had been also voiced by the Greek Cypriot Administration Leader Nikos Anastasiades, first in Crans Montana and on several other occasions.
Indicating that being realistic if it couldn’t done in 52 years there is no need to push the limits, Çavuşoğlu stated that they discussed the issue of the Eastern Mediterranean and that if the sharing is to be discussed, they expressed their opinion in every atmosphere that a meeting including with all stakeholders should be take place (present) and conveyed this issue to EU officials as well.