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Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) Foreign Minister Tahsin Ertugruloglu said Türkiye's effective guarantorship and military presence on the island are a "red line" for the Turkish Cypriot people, calling them the strongest guarantee of regional stability and of the Turkish-Greek balance in the Eastern Mediterranean.
Ertugruloglu made the remarks in a written statement, according to the Turkish Cypriot News Agency.
He said more than half a century of Cyprus negotiations had shown that the Greek Cypriot side would not change its mentality and would undermine any possible partnership arrangement.
"Therefore, our stance is clear against approaches that try to make the Turkish Cypriot people pay the price of the lack of a solution through unjust isolations; the only reality on the island is the existence of two separate, sovereign and equal states living side by side," he said.
Ertugruloglu said Türkiye's effective and actual guarantorship, as well as the presence of Turkish troops on the island, remained essential for the security of Turkish Cypriots.
He said Türkiye's presence is also the strongest guarantee of the Turkish-Greek balance in the Eastern Mediterranean and of regional stability.
The foreign minister said he was pleased that political parties remained in close contact and dialogue with Türkiye and were deepening consultations.
"Our national Cyprus cause and our future are one and common," he said.
Ertugruloglu said past processes, including the Annan Plan and the Crans-Montana talks, had shown that the Greek Cypriot side insisted on governing the island alone, viewed Turkish Cypriots as a "minority" and demanded "zero troops, zero guarantees."
He said those positions had long buried "federation-based solution models in the dustbin of history."
Seeking the future of the Turkish Cypriot people on federation grounds that have been tried and exhausted many times is not only a futile effort and a waste of time, but also an attempt to weaken the national Cyprus policy and reduce the status of the Turkish Cypriot people, he said.
"The future of the Turkish Cypriot people has been secured under the roof of their own sovereign state and by walking shoulder to shoulder with motherland Türkiye," he said.
"Those who aspire to govern our state, the TRNC, must understand this reality well and be sincere with our people," he added.
Ertugruloglu also criticized attempts to link the Cyprus settlement process with Türkiye's relations with the European Union.
"How can a fair approach be expected on behalf of the Turkish Cypriot people from the EU, which has always sided with the Greek Cypriots on the Cyprus issue, and with what logic can the progress of Türkiye's relations with the EU be linked to developments in Cyprus?" he said.
"We saw this deceptive film in 2004 and experienced it painfully," he added.
Ertugruloglu recalled the words of founding TRNC President Rauf Denktas: "Without Türkiye, we would not go to the EU, not even to heaven."
"We have never trusted the European Union, and we do not trust it," he said.
Ertugruloglu said Türkiye had consistently stressed that a lasting, fair and sustainable solution on the island was possible only based on a two-state solution.
He said such a settlement must be based on confirmation of the sovereign equality and equal international status of the Turkish Cypriot people.
"Is it reasonable to pin hopes on other dangerous scenarios that are incompatible with reality?" he said.
Cyprus has been mired in a decades-long dispute between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, despite a series of diplomatic efforts by the United Nations to achieve a comprehensive settlement. Ethnic attacks starting in the early 1960s forced Turkish Cypriots to withdraw into enclaves for their safety.
In 1974, a Greek Cypriot coup aimed at Greece’s annexation of the island led to Türkiye’s military intervention as a guarantor power to protect Turkish Cypriots from persecution and violence. As a result, the TRNC was founded in 1983.
The issue has seen an on-and-off peace process in recent years, including a failed 2017 initiative in Switzerland under the auspices of guarantor countries Türkiye, Greece, and the United Kingdom. The Greek Cypriot administration entered the European Union in 2004, the same year that Greek Cypriots single-handedly blocked a U.N. plan to end the longstanding dispute.
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