Turkish Cypriots deny claims of ‘new UN solution’ for divided island
THE TURKISH Cypriot Foreign Ministry shot down claims by Greek Cypriot media about a U.N. proposal for a new solution in the island divided between two communities. In a statement on Saturday, the ministry said there was no official meeting proposal conveyed by U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
Greek Cypriot media claimed Guterres presented a “new solution” proposal in Cyprus but the Turkish side rejected it, abandoning the two-state solution, and thus changes occurred in the conditions demanded.
The ministry’s statement noted that “Greek Cypriot leadership arranged false news” in the media about “the National Council meeting of the Greek Cypriot administration,” attempting to “appear as a ‘demanding party’ in the international community regarding the Cyprus issue.”
The statement also clarified that no other work has been conducted apart from the process led by the Personal Representative of the U.N. Secretary-General Maria Angela Holguin Cuellar in Cyprus.
It added that Greek Cypriot media statements claiming that “the Turkish side only mentions ‘sovereign equality’ instead of a two-state solution” are “entirely the product of the Greek Cypriot leadership’s imagination.”
It highlighted that reaffirming the Turkish Cypriot side’s sovereign equality and equal international status is a prerequisite for official negotiations. “The U.N. secretary-general has not provided an official meeting proposal, so the claims that Turkish Cypriots rejected the U.N.’s unofficial tripartite or five-party conference proposal suggested by the U.N. while the Greek Cypriot
accepted it are baseless,” it noted.
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 Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (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 United Kingdom. The Greek Cypriot administration was admitted to the European Union 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’s natural gas-rich waters where Türkiye has a drillship probing the seabed.
In January, the U.N. chief appointed a personal envoy for Cyprus, María Angela Holguín Cuellar, who met with Tatar and Greek Cypriot administration leader Nikos Christodoulides to probe for common ground between the sides after years of complete stalemate. However, Cuellar faces a herculean task as Turkish and Greek Cypriots have grown increasingly apart over the years 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 federallevel government decisions, permanent Turkish troop presence and Turkish military intervention rights.
In an interview with Anadolu Agency (AA) last month, TRNC President Ersin Tatar argued that only a new model based on political realities could resolve the deadlock on the ethnically divided island of Cyprus.
“Let’s be creative and find a solution so that we can all benefit and contribute to the security and stability of the Eastern Mediterranean,” Tatar said.
“If we can achieve this, Cyprus can become a prosperous island, probably more prosperous than Dubai,” he stressed.
Tatar complained that the Greek Cypriot administration, after becoming an EU member, had lost interest in a political settlement and instead started to abuse its membership and veto power to pursue its particular interests.
“Some Europeans are very uncomfortable and very disturbed about the fact that Greek Cypriots are using, in fact abusing, European Union mechanisms for their own good and obviously creating unnecessary problems for Europe,” he said.
The Turkish Cypriot leader said a new process for a political settlement in Cyprus could begin if the international community finally recognizes the political realities on the island, acknowledges the sovereign equality of Turkish Cypriots and puts pressure on the Greek Cypriot administration.
“The reality is that we have had two states in Cyprus for the past 60 years. All these past U.N. Security Council resolutions based on bizonal, bicommunal, a federal republic, proved very unsuccessful.”
Tatar emphasized that the “only way forward for a successful resolution of the Cyprus problem ... (is) a new model, and this new model is a two-state solution.” He said this idea put forward by the Turkish Cypriots has been widely discussed in the international arena in recent years and has started to garner increased support from countries.