Time to pursue two-state solution for Cyprus issue: Ankara
IT IS TIME to work for the realization of a two-state solution for the decadeslong Cyprus issue, Presidential Communications Director Fahrettin Altun said Monday, as he underlined Turkey’s and Turkish Cyprus’ close cooperation with the United Nations to promote lasting peace and a solution.
Releasing a Twitter message, Altun noted that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan would visit the island to mark the 47 anniversary of the Cyprus Peace Operation initiated by Turkey.
He also shared a video called the “Cyprus Issue from Past to Present: Two-State Solution.”
In another message, Turkish Cypriot President Ersin Tatar on Monday said that the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) will embrace homeland Turkey tighter than ever, as it prepares to celebrate the 47th anniversary of the peace operation.
In a written statement, Tatar said TRNC will walk in a more determined manner thanks to Turkey’s support and will continue to embrace it.
Erdoğan Monday started a two-day official visit to the TRNC.
During his visit, Erdoğan was expected to address a special session of the Turkish Cypriot Parliament and attend celebrations of the July 20 Peace and Freedom Day, marking the 47th anniversary of Turkey’s 1974 Peace Operation, which protected the island’s Turkish Cypriot community from Greek Cypriot violence.
He was also expected to meet with Tatar to exchange views on the latest developments in the Eastern Mediterranean and bilateral relations.
Every year the TRNC celebrates July 20 as its Peace and Freedom Day to mark the operation – a large-scale military intervention to protect Turkish Cypriots from the violence that struck the island in 1974.
Cyprus has been mired in a decadeslong dispute between Greek and Turkish Cypriots, despite a series of diplomatic efforts by the U.N. to achieve a comprehensive settlement.
In the early 1960s, ethnic attacks forced Turkish Cypriots to withdraw into enclaves for their safety. In 1974, a Greek Cypriot coup aiming 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.
The island 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 United Kingdom.
The Greek Cypriot administration entered the European Union in 2004, the same year that Greek Cypriots thwarted the U.N.’s Annan plan to end the decadeslong dispute.