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Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) Foreign Minister Tahsin Ertugruloglu said the TRNC would continue to exist and called on the Turkic world to deepen ties with it as the country marks the 43rd anniversary of its establishment on Nov. 15.
Speaking to Turkish state-run Anadolu Agency, Ertugruloglu said Turkish Cypriots had built their state through a long struggle inspired by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.
“The TRNC is the honor and prestige of the Turkish nation,” he said.
He said the Cyprus issue was a national cause for the Turkish nation and argued that the TRNC would continue to defend the rights, interests and security of the wider Turkic world in the Eastern Mediterranean.
Ertugruloglu recalled that the TRNC was proclaimed on Nov. 15, 1983, after a long period of resistance.
“The TRNC was not established as some joke of history,” he said. “We are people who are always proud of our state, our motherland and the Turkic world. We will celebrate Nov. 15 with enthusiasm.”
He said the Turkish Cypriot resistance before 1974 had prevented efforts by Greek Cypriots to remove Turks from Cyprus, and argued that attempts to marginalize Türkiye and the TRNC in the Eastern Mediterranean and Aegean had no chance of succeeding.
Ertugruloglu also described the struggle leading to the establishment of the TRNC as one affecting not only the Turkish nation but the wider Turkic world, including Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Uyghur Turks.
He said the struggle had also become a symbol for oppressed peoples.
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Ertugruloglu said the TRNC must continue acting together with Türkiye to secure its future.
He argued that the distance maintained by some members of the Organization of Turkic States and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation toward the TRNC was influenced by major powers pursuing what he described as imperial objectives.
Despite international policies directed against the TRNC, he said its achievements should not be overlooked.
“We have to succeed despite everything,” Ertugruloglu said.
He said the establishment of the TRNC represented “the crowning of the Turkic world’s struggle with victory” and predicted that the Turkish Cypriot people having their own state and republic would carry even greater significance for the Turkic world in the future.
Ertugruloglu said the TRNC’s future was bright and called on countries across the Turkic world to strengthen their relations with it.
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