TRNC Minister of Foreign Affairs Tahsin Ertuğruloğlu received the President of Türkiye-Turkish Republic of Cyprus Cooperation Association, Rüşat Aydoğan and his accompanying delegation yesterday. (11 January 2023) 

Minister Ertuğruloğlu stated that an accurate policy is being pursued on the Cyprus issue on the basis of the existence of sovereign equal states and that there is no question of a new partnership with the Greek Cypriots.  

Briefing the members of the delegation about the past and recent developments on the Cyprus issue, Foreign Minister Ertuğruloğlu said that a new path has been followed regarding the Cyprus issue after the Cyprus talks held in Crans Montana, Switzerland in 2017 remained inconclusive due to Greek Cypriot bigotry.  

The Minister said that there will be no negotiation process on federation from now on and added that if a negotiation process is to be brought to the agenda, the existence of two sovereign equal states on the island will be accepted and two sovereign states will sit at the negotiation table as two sovereign states.   

Emphasising that there is no question of a new partnership with the Greek Cypriots, who have based the Cyprus problem on the claim of “occupation and invasion”, Foreign Minister Ertuğruloğlu stated that as long as Greek Cypriots are treated as a state and Turkish Cypriots are treated as the community of that state, there will never be a new partnership with Greek Cypriots and added that the two separate states will shape the future as neighbouring states, side by side, perhaps with good neighbourly relations.  

Referring that the policy of recognition of the TRNC came to the agenda for the first time after 2017, Foreign Minister Tahsin Ertuğruloğlu said that the admission of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus as an observer member to the Organisation of Turkic States (OST) with its own name and flag was the beginning of the process leading to recognition 

Foreign Minister Ertuğruloğlu also said that the European Union should be ashamed of its decisions on Cyprus and apologise to the Turkish Cypriots.