Turkey backs 2-state solution on Cyprus: TRNC president

ISTANBUL

Turkey fully supports a two-state solution on the island of Cyprus based on equal sovereignty, the president of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) said Sunday.

Ersin Tatar’s comments came at an event held by the TRNC’s consulate general in Istanbul on the occasion of the 38th anniversary of the country’s establishment in which he commented on political and regional developments.

Tatar said it has become inevitable for Turkish Cypriots to maintain their presence on the island not as a minority but on the basis of sovereignty and equality and it is no longer possible to agree on a federal structure in Cyprus, adding his administration is open to reconciliation and agreement.

“We are open to cooperation, only with the acceptance of the status of two separate states based on sovereign equality. Cooperation can only be achieved under these conditions. We share this demand with the whole world,” he said.

“We officially expressed this for the first time at the meetings held in Geneva on April 27-29. We conveyed our six-item plan based on equal status. However, we also stated that if our sovereign and international equality is accepted, we can enter the formal negotiation process, because sovereign equality is the only guarantee of our existence.”

Tatar also said that Turkey’s role as a guarantor country on the island and the presence of its armed forces would help the TRNC establish its goals, because otherwise, the Greek Cypriot side would govern the Turkish Cypriots and eventually assimilate them.

The president stressed that Turkey’s position on the issue empowered the TRNC and Ankara viewed the Cyprus issue as an international cause and it has always stood by Turkish Cypriots.

- Cyprus issue

Cyprus has been mired in a decades-long dispute between Greek and Turkish Cypriots, despite a series of diplomatic efforts by the UN 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 Turkey's military intervention as a guarantor power to protect Turkish Cypriots from persecution and violence.

The TRNC was founded in 1983. It has seen an on-and-off peace process in recent years, including a failed 2017 initiative in Switzerland under the auspices of guarantor countries Turkey, Greece and the UK.

The Greek Cypriot administration entered the European Union in 2004, the same year that Greek Cypriots thwarted a UN plan to end the decades-long dispute.​​​​​​​

*Writing by Ali Murat Alhas