Turkish, Greek Cypriots lack common ground: TRNC President Tatar

TURKISH Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) President Ersin Tatar on Sunday squashed any hopes of a new negotiation process on ethnically divided Cyprus, saying there was “no common ground” between the Turkish and Greek Cypriots.

“I personally informed U.N. SecretaryGeneral Antonio Guterres that there is no common ground between the Turkish and Greek Cypriot sides in Cyprus,” Tatar told reporters at Ercan Airport in Lefkoşa (Nicosia) on his return from a visit to the United States.

Tatar argued that the Greek Cypriot side creates the perception that “there will be a new negotiation process on Cyprus” and said he “put an end to this perception” with his contacts in the U.S. The U.N. secretary-general’s personal representative, Maria Angela Holguin Cuellar, appointed in January, is currently working to investigate whether there is a common ground between the parties in Cyprus.

Tatar emphasized that he explained his policy of confirming the TRNC’s sovereign equality and equal international status to all the officials he met.

“If they think that they will press us and force us to the negotiation table at a time when embargoes and isolations continue, this would be wrong. We will not accept it. We are pursuing a new policy and this policy is also quite clear and explicit,” he said.

He also said that Guterres respects the attitude of the Turkish Cypriot side, noting that no process can start with coercion.

Tatar pointed out that he conveyed to his interlocutors that only by accepting the acquired rights of the Turkish Cypriots could progress be made in the negotiations.

He emphasized that if there is to be an agreement in Cyprus now, it will be through the recognition of the TRNC.

Tatar said they would never compromise on their rights and would not step back from the “sovereign equality and equal international status” policy they advocate.

President Tatar held meetings with Guterres, U.S. State Department officials, representatives of think tanks and executives of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) during his visit to the U.S., which began on April 5.

CYPRUS ISSUE

Cyprus has been divided since 1974 when Türkiye, as a guarantor power, prompted by a coup aimed at Greece’s annexation of the island, launched a military intervention dubbed the Cyprus Peace Operation to protect Turkish Cypriots from persecution and violence.

As a result, the TRNC was founded on Nov. 15, 1983.

Since then, the violence has stopped, but tensions continue, including over who holds sway on the island’s exclusive offshore economic zone, over 40% of which was claimed by Türkiye following recent natural gas discoveries.

Türkiye doesn’t recognize the Greek Cypriot administration as a state and still keeps some 35,000 troops in the TRNC.

The island has recently seen an on-andoff peace process, including a failed 2017 initiative in Switzerland under the auspices of guarantor countries Türkiye, Greece and the U.K.

The Greek Cypriot administration was admitted to the EU in 2004, the same year they thwarted a U.N. plan to end the longstanding dispute, but only the Greek Cypriot south enjoys its full benefits.

A Cyprus peace deal would reduce a source of potential conflict next door to an unstable Middle East and allow for the easier harnessing of hydrocarbon reserves in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea’s natural gas-rich waters where Türkiye has a drillship probing the seabed.

Since January, Cuellar has met with Tatar and the Greek Cypriot administration leader Nikos Christodoulides twice to probe for common ground between the sides after years of complete stalemate. The U.N. envoy, however, faces a herculean task as Turkish and Greek Cypriots have grown increasingly apart since the last major push to reach a peace settlement in the summer of 2017.

Türkiye and the Turkish Cypriots say the only way to peace now is a two-state deal, as opposed to reunifying the island as a federation composed of Greek and Turkish Cypriot zones.

Despite rejecting a deal on a federation previously, the majority of Greek Cypriots also reject anything that would formalize a partition, as well as demands for a Turkish Cypriot veto on all federal-level government decisions, permanent Turkish troop presence and Turkish military intervention rights.