Northern Cyprus dismisses European Parliament’s report on Türkiye

By Alperen Aktas

ISTANBUL (AA) – The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) dismissed the European Parliament’s 2022 report on Türkiye on Wednesday, deeming it irrelevant due to the legislative body’s biased stance on Cyprus.

“As long as the EP (European Parliament) persists in its wrong and biased attitude towards the Cyprus issue and the parties in Cyprus, reports and decisions of the EP are null and void for us,” the TRNC’s Foreign Affairs Ministry said in a statement.

The statement emphasized that the European Parliament approved a report that ignored the existence and inherent rights of the Turkish Cypriot people and entirely reflected the views of the Greek Cypriot Administration.

“The insistence on the tried and failed federation model in the report…(and) an approach that blames Türkiye are manifestations of the EP's detachment from the realities on the island and its blindly pro-Greek stance,” the ministry added.

The ministry also said that the coastal area of Maras, or Varosha in Greek, belongs to the TRNC and criticized the European Parliament's stance on the Pile-Yigitler road as "unacceptable."

The European Parliament adopted the 2022 report on Türkiye at a plenary session on Wednesday.

“The Turkish Cypriot side must respect the UN mission's mandate in the buffer zone and refrain from any actions that escalate tensions,” it said.

Türkiye says the construction of the Pile-Yigitler road is a “humanitarian project” aiming to facilitate the direct access of TRNC citizens in the village of Pile to their homeland.

The Greek Cypriot Administration and the UN are opposed to the project.