Türkiye’s main opposition leader meets with Northern Cyprus president

By Merve Yildizalp

ANKARA (AA) – The leader of Türkiye’s main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), Ozgur Ozel, met with Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) President Ersin Tatar on Wednesday.

Ozel marked the 40th anniversary of the founding of the TRNC and the Republic Day and congratulated the people of the TRNC, according to a statement by his party.

He said he is planning to make his first visit to the TRNC and then to Azerbaijan.

Noting that the TRNC is faced with “isolation and an embargo,” he said these embargoes, which he called “insincere” considering the previous promises to the TRNC, must be eliminated.

The TRNC was established on Nov. 15, 1983, nearly a decade after Türkiye’s Cyprus Peace Operation on the island, which stopped persecution and violence against Turkish Cypriots by ultra-nationalist Greek Cypriots.

Cyprus has been mired in a decades-long dispute between Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots, despite a series of diplomatic efforts by the UN to achieve a comprehensive settlement.

Türkiye is a guarantor country for the TRNC and fully supports a two-state solution on the island based on sovereign equality and equal international status between its two states.

*Writing by Gozde Bayar