Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus criticizes Biden meeting with Greek Cypriot leader

By Mehmet Kemal Firik

LEFKOSA, Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (AA) – The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) criticized a recent meeting between US President Joe Biden and Greek Cypriot administration leader Nikos Christodoulides, warning that no power can ignore the rights of Türkiye and Turkish Cypriots in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Foreign Minister Tahsin Ertugruloglu raised concerns Thursday about the US’s continued support of the Greek Cypriot side, which he said risks disrupting the fragile balance in the region.

“No power will be able to ignore the presence and rights of Motherland Türkiye and the Turkish Cypriot people in the Eastern Mediterranean region,” Ertugruloglu said in a statement released by the TRNC Foreign Ministry.

The international community must abandon its denial of the realities in Cyprus and stop treating the Greek Cypriot administration as the “legitimate representative” of the island, he said.

“At this stage, any partnership between the sides in Cyprus, let alone a federation, is merely an illusion. The future of Cyprus lies in the development of good neighborly relations between two separate states.”

Biden met with Christodoulides at the White House on Wednesday.

They discussed a range of foreign policy issues of mutual interest, including energy diversification and regional security, according to the White House.

“Acknowledging the 50th anniversary of the division of the island of Cyprus, President Biden reiterated his support for a bi-zonal, bi-communal federation with political equality for all Cypriots consistent with United Nations Security Council Resolutions,” it added.

Ertugruloglu also said the US was attempting to pressure Turkish Cypriots by offering additional support to the Greek Cypriots if Turkish Cypriots refused to reengage in federation-based talks.

For years, the TRNC has argued that US support for Greek Cypriots, under what Ertugruloglu described as a “strategic partnership,” has empowered the Greek Cypriot administration, which now increasingly sees itself as a regional player in the Mediterranean.

The Greek Cypriot side, emboldened by the US, has overstepped its bounds, starting to view itself as an actor in the Eastern Mediterranean, even a replacement for Türkiye, he said.

Ertugruloglu called for an end to what he termed the US’s “encouragement” of such behavior.

He said that neither the US nor the international community seems to recognize the Greek Cypriot side’s intention to confine Turkish Cypriots to negotiations under the name of “federation” talks, allowing them to continue representing Cyprus internationally as “the sole legitimate representative” while perpetuating the isolation imposed on Turkish Cypriots indefinitely.

He added that the recent meeting between Biden and Christodoulides gave the Greek Cypriots the impression that negotiations on the island would soon resume.

The island of Cyprus has been mired in a decades-long dispute between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, despite a series of diplomatic efforts 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 Türkiye's military intervention as a guarantor power to protect Turkish Cypriots from persecution and violence. As a result, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) was founded in 1983.

The Greek Cypriot administration was admitted to the European Union in 2004, the same year Greek Cypriots thwarted a UN plan to end the longstanding dispute.

Türkiye fully supports a two-state solution on the island of Cyprus based on sovereign equality and equal international status.​​​​​​​