Turkey blasts EU over Northern Cyprus statement

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
12 Nov 2022 23:48

Turkey calls out EU hypocrisy over statement targeting Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus and requests that the International Community recognize the administration.

The Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs building.

Turkey blasts the "hypocrisy of the [European] Union" after the latter released a statement expressing concern regarding adding the Self-proclaimed Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) to Turkey's Organization of Turkic States.

Northern Cyprus was admitted earlier as a member with observer status to the organization.

In a statement, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said that “as stated in the (Organization of Turkic States) Summit Declaration, the Turkish Cypriots are an inseparable part of the Turkic world, it is their natural right to establish and develop relations with the Turkic States in every field."

The ministry added that the Union's attempts “to hinder the Turkish Cypriot people to become a respectable member of the international community, are incompatible with goodwill, and they also once again clearly reveal the hypocrisy of the Union, which has been captivated by the vicious policies of the Greek Cypriot administration and Greece.”

“A just, lasting and sustainable settlement on the Island of Cyprus can only be reached following a process that will be initiated with the reaffirmation of the inherent sovereign equality and equal international status of the Turkish Cypriot people, which have been usurped since 1963,” the statement continued.

“Türkiye, by all means, will continue to stand by the TRNC and to be the voice of the Turkish Cypriots in all international platforms," the ministry stated, stressing that the international community needs to recognize the TRNC and ditch its attitude that deals with the Greek Cypriots as the only owners of the island.

Despite several attempts to resolve the issue between the Greek and Turkish Cypriots, the long dispute so far has no clear end in sight.

The TRNC was established in 1983 after the Turkish military intervened to stop a Greek Cypriot attempt to take control of the island in 1974.

In 2004, The EU admitted Cyprus as a member of the Union.