Foreign Minister Ertuğruloğlu spoke at the Annual Coordination Meeting of OIC Foreign Ministers on 22 September 2017 in New York.
In his speech Foreign Minister Tahsin Ertuğruloğlu touched upon the long-standing Cyprus question, which is at a very important juncture and said the following:
“As known, despite the constructive efforts of the Turkish Cypriot side and Turkey, the Cyprus negotiations have collapsed following the inconclusive outcome at the Cyprus conference, which took place in Crans-Montana, Switzerland between 28 June and 7 July 2017 due to the intransigent and maximalist positions of the Greek Cypriot side and its insistence on perpetuating the status quo through open-ended negotiations. The said conference has clearly shown that after 50 years of negotiations the efforts within the framework of the parameters of the United Nations good offices for a bi-zonal, bi-communal federation have been exhausted.
Thus, it is most unfair and inhuman to keep the Turkish Cypriot people captives of a problem which was neither initiated nor perpetuated by them. In this regard, history speaks for itself, and I would like to put on record that former Greek Cypriot Minister of Foreign affairs, Mr. Rolandis, admitted that the Greek Cypriot side had hampered in the past settlement efforts on fifteen (15) occasions. As former Secretary-General his Excellency Mr. Kofi Annan stated in his report, dated 28 May 2004, the Greek Cypriot side is not ready to share power and prosperity with the Turkish Cypriot people. This remains a correct diagnosis of the present situation in Cyprus.
We believe that with the support of the international community, other settlement alternatives should now be considered with a view to establishing strong neighbourly relations with the Greek Cypriot people living side by side in peace and stability. This is vital for the peace and stability of not just the island but also the region, which is at present fraught with conflicts.
Availing ourselves of this new state of circumstances, at this important juncture, it is our hope that the Organisation of the Islamic Cooperation and its brotherly member states act on the words in the OIC resolutions and declarations and take concrete steps to show solidarity with their Turkish Cypriot brethren. In this connection, as the Turkish Cypriot government, we are ready to talk with the OIC Secretariat as well as with each and every brotherly member state about a road map putting the OIC resolutions and declarations on Cyprus into effect, ending the isolation of the Turkish Cypriots. We trust that the issue of a road map in this regard will be put on the agenda of the OIC Secretariat.”