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Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) Foreign Minister Tahsin Ertugruloglu said a federation or new partnership model in Cyprus is no longer on the agenda, stressing that the Turkish Cypriot side will continue pursuing a policy based on two sovereign equal states.
“The point reached in foreign policy is now final. Two sovereign equal states, a policy of equal international status,” Ertugruloglu said. “There is no option of establishing a new partnership with the Greeks.”
Ertugruloglu made the remarks during a meeting with Turkish media in Washington, D.C., as part of his U.S. contacts following the U.N. General Assembly meetings.
Speaking at the TRNC Washington Representative Office, he assessed the current stage of the Cyprus issue, the TRNC’s foreign policy line, the role of the U.N. and Security Council, Greek Cypriot military ties and U.S. policies in the region.
Ertugruloglu said Turkish Cypriots have faced embargoes and isolation policies for years, while arguing that socioeconomic conditions in the TRNC remain stronger than often portrayed internationally.
“We have been living under embargoes for years,” he said. “The Turkish Cypriot people are being oppressed and overwhelmed through various isolation policies. But socioeconomic conditions in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus are better than 80% of the members of the U.N. General Assembly.”
He said an image was being created that the TRNC was “in misery” and “under occupation.”
“Everyone who comes to the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus sees that there is no such Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus at all. There is no image that can be called occupation,” he said.
Ertugruloglu said the TRNC’s foreign policy position on the Cyprus issue would not change, adding that the Turkish Cypriot side no longer sees a renewed partnership with Greek Cypriots as possible.
“We tried to be a partnership, we tried to be partners in 1960, in 1963. What happened to us in the end is what we have been living through for years,” he said.
He argued that the Greek Cypriot side’s approach had not changed and said the international community’s treatment of Greek Cyprus as the island’s sole legitimate state encouraged that position.
Relations on the island could now be shaped on the basis of neighborly ties between two states rather than a new partnership, he said.
“There can now be neighborly relations on the island,” Ertugruloglu said.
He said he did not expect the current approach to change as long as the international community continued to treat the Greek Cypriot side as the island’s sole legitimate state.
“That is why I say the current status quo is the solution, a de facto solution: two neighboring sovereign equal states,” he said.
Ertugruloglu said the Cyprus issue should not be viewed only as a dispute between Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots.
“The Cyprus issue is a national cause. It is a cause of the Turkish nation,” he said.
Asked about contacts during the U.N. General Assembly and whether he met U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Ertugruloglu said he did not attend the president’s meeting with Guterres this year, although he had attended previous meetings in New York.
He said meetings with the U.N. secretary-general “should not be exaggerated too much,” arguing that the secretary-general cannot move beyond the framework set by the Security Council.
“The secretary-general is, of course, a very valuable gentleman, a very good person, well-intentioned, close to Türkiye,” he said. “But the secretary-general’s problem is that he is only a senior bureaucrat of the Security Council. He is not a bureaucrat who can go beyond the parameters drawn by the Security Council.”
Ertugruloglu said the Security Council’s approach to Cyprus must change before the U.N. can play a meaningful role in resolving the issue.
“Only if the Security Council, those five permanent members, reach the stage of taking a new decision that will correct the mistake they made in 1964 can we think that the U.N. can assume a role toward solving the problem in Cyprus,” he said.
Ertugruloglu also criticized Greek Cyprus’ military relations with other countries, particularly Israel, saying they affected security balances on the island.
“Of course, we are not very pleased that Israel has fallen into such an influential position in Greek Cyprus,” he said. “This is a relationship that puts the island’s security in trouble.”
He said the TRNC had no security concerns despite regional tensions, citing the presence of Turkish soldiers on the island and Türkiye’s guarantor role.
“Although we are in a ring of fire, we are a people who are not concerned about our security,” he said. “There is only one reason: the presence of the Turkish Armed Forces on the island and the guarantorship of motherland Türkiye.”
He said Greek Cyprus’ ties with Israel, agreements with France, U.S. arms sales, military training activities and Britain’s policies through its bases on the island did not support peace.
“All these are developments that do not ensure peace on the island but disrupt it,” he said. “But of course, you should also know that motherland Türkiye has taken every measure it needs to take against these.”
Ertugruloglu said Turkish troops on the island were not a threat to Greek Cypriots but a deterrent that preserved military balance.
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Ertugruloglu said he raised U.S. military support for Greek Cyprus during his contacts in Washington.
“We also ask the Americans. I asked here again: ‘Why are you training these people, what are you training them to do? What is the purpose of this training? What is its target? Are you training them to fight us? Are you selling weapons so they can use them against us?’” he said. “Of course, they do not give proper answers.”
He said Türkiye remained the decisive factor in contacts between the TRNC and international actors.
“Why do they deal with us? Not because they respect us or care about us very much. Because of the Türkiye factor,” he said. “They deal with us because Türkiye stands behind us.”
Asked whether the U.S. could serve as a mediator between the TRNC and Greek Cyprus, Ertugruloglu said the TRNC does not favor giving any country or international actor a mediation role.
“We are not in a position to accept anyone as a mediator,” he said. “Mediation is something else. Accepting mediation is a dangerous dimension. There is only one actor we can trust: Türkiye.”
He said the U.N. secretary-general’s role was a good offices mission, not mediation.
“The duty of the U.N. secretary-general is a good offices mission. He is not a mediator. That is a very dangerous step,” Ertugruloglu said.
Ertugruloglu said Turkish Cypriots are an inseparable part of the Turkish nation.
“We are Turks who happen to live on the island of Cyprus,” he said. “We did not come to this island from the moon; we came from the motherland years ago with our grandfathers and grandmothers.”
“There is no nation called Cypriot. There is the Turkish nation,” he added. “We are an inseparable part of that nation. We live on the island of Cyprus. We must carry the responsibility that comes with being Turkish.”
Ertugruloglu said the TRNC would continue on its current path without stepping back from its two-state policy.
“The current situation is the solution. We do not have the luxury of stepping back from this,” he said. “Our duty is to take the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus to a better future. And we will move step by step together with our motherland. There is no other way.”
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