Since the election of Ersin Tatar as president in 2020, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) has made effective use of opportunities to defend the rights of the Turkish Cypriot people and to enhance the country’s visibility on numerous international platforms, with the full support of the president of the Republic of Türkiye, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

United Nations hear Tatar

A recent example of this was Tatar’s bilateral meeting with U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Sept. 26, followed by a trilateral meeting with the participation of Greek Cypriot leader Nikos Christodoulides on Sept. 27 in New York, during the high-level meetings of the U.N. General Assembly.

The 80th U.N. General Assembly was once again marked by a speech from Erdoğan. In his address, which attracted great interest from the leaders present, Erdoğan again called on the international community to end the unjust isolation imposed on Turkish Cypriots for over half a century and to recognize and establish diplomatic, political and economic relations with the TRNC. His words once more gave voice to Turkish Cypriots on a crucial platform from which the TRNC itself was excluded.

At the U.N. meeting, Tatar emphasized that global challenges such as climate change, pandemics and energy security necessitate cooperation on the island. In this regard, he expressed hope that the secretary-general would pave the way for concrete progress on issues such as new border crossings, electricity interconnection and green-energy projects. Tatar noted that such initiatives would improve daily life and strengthen the culture of cooperation between the two communities living side by side in Cyprus.

The following day, Tatar met Christodoulides at U.N. headquarters in a meeting hosted by Guterres. While Guterres and Christodoulides spoke for only a few minutes, Tatar seized the opportunity to deliver a substantial and forceful address, conveying key messages to his counterpart. He questioned the Greek Cypriot leader’s intentions behind what he described as a policy of fear and obstructionism, which began with the arrests of contractors and businesspeople investing in the TRNC and continued with attempts to block Turkish Cypriot hellim exports, directly targeting the TRNC economy.

Tatar further questioned why the Greek Cypriot side continued to obstruct the Turkish Cypriot proposals for cooperation, including electricity interconnection between the two sides, the sharing of hydrocarbon resources around the island, energy collaboration and the new crossing points. He also raised his concerns about double standards in the granting of citizenship to children born to mixed marriages, as well as barring Turkish Cypriots of mainland Turkish descent from crossing from the North to the South.

Concluding his remarks, Tatar reminded his counterpart that although the Greek Cypriot side claims to want peace and stability, it continues to invest heavily in armaments, turning the island into a potential target. In this context, Tatar quoted the famous Sufi philosopher Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi: "Either appear as you are or be as you appear.” In doing so, he openly challenged the Greek Cypriot leader’s sincerity.

TRNC in the Turkic world

As expected, the aftermath of the meeting was marked by Christodoulides’ illusion that Guterres had promised to resume negotiations from the point where they broke down in Crans-Montana in 2017. However, the U.N.’s official statement following the meeting read: "The secretary-general decided to send his personal envoy on Cyprus for consultations to prepare for an informal meeting in a broader format as soon as possible. The secretary-general underlined the continued steadfast commitment of the U.N. to a peaceful resolution of the Cyprus issue for the benefit of all Cypriots.”

Thus, the official statement of Guterres once again omitted any mention of federation or Crans Montana, which had never been the case since Tatar was elected president in 2020. This incident once more demonstrated that the Greek Cypriot side’s repeated propaganda, now resembling fairy tales from La Fontaine, had once again hit a wall. In other words, the Greek Cypriot leadership has again lost credibility, both domestically and internationally.

After New York, Tatar attended the 12th leaders’ summit of the Organization of Turkic States (OTS) held in Gabala, Azerbaijan. Before the summit, he was officially received by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, despite the latter’s busy schedule. In this warm and cordial meeting, Tatar expressed his gratitude for Azerbaijan’s support for the TRNC, and Aliyev reaffirmed that Azerbaijan would continue to support the TRNC while underscoring the importance of its participation in the OTS. Azerbaijan thus once again demonstrated its solidarity with its Turkish Cypriot brothers.

During the OTS summit, Erdoğan once again reaffirmed Türkiye’s unwavering support for the TRNC, stating: "I am pleased to observe that the Turkic World does not leave its Turkish Cypriot brothers alone on the path to a just two-state solution.”

In the Gabala Declaration of the 12th OTS summit, it was emphasized "the need to reach a negotiated, mutually acceptable and viable settlement of the Cyprus issue based on existing realities on the island,” and the leaders "expressed their solidarity with the Turkish Cypriot people as an integral part of the Turkic World in their aspirations to secure their equal inherent rights.”

This declaration is significant in several respects. Firstly, it employs the phrase "existing realities on the island,” which is frequently used by Turkish Cypriot officials to underline the two-state solution. Secondly, the reference to "equal inherent rights” highlights the sovereign equality and equal international status of the Turkish Cypriot people alongside their Greek counterparts. It should also be noted that the term "people,” as used for Turkish Cypriots, applies only to nations entitled to exercise the right of self-determination in establishing a sovereign state.

Cyprus chooses the U-turn

Following the OTS summit, the Turkish Cypriot people elected Tufan Erhürman, leader of the main opposition Republican Turkish Party (CTP), as the sixth President of the TRNC on Oct. 19. The peaceful conduct of the election once more demonstrated the maturity of the TRNC’s strong democratic tradition.

As the first statement after the election, the new President-elect Erhürman said: "Foreign policy will of course be conducted in close consultation with the Republic of Türkiye; no one should doubt that. Our very good relations with Türkiye will continue to develop further. I see this as a mission.”

Erdoğan congratulated Erhürman, stating that Türkiye will "continue to defend the rights and sovereign interests of the TRNC."

It may be argued that domestic political concerns, rather than foreign policy considerations, shaped the outcome of the presidential elections. Nevertheless, Erhürman remains optimistic about the prospects of a federal settlement, even though the motherland and guarantor state, Türkiye, continues to support the "two-state solution” as the only viable way on the island.

Further complicating matters, the Greek Cypriot side insists that "removal of Turkish troops and termination of Türkiye’s guarantorship on the island” must be the precondition for any new negotiation process. The Greek Cypriot leadership also declared that the Turkish side should also accept the European Union laws and principles, although this has never been a U.N. parameter – a position that effectively undermines the possibility of a bi-communal, bi-zonal federation in Cyprus.

Under these circumstances, the Greek Cypriot side continues to act under the illusion that it is the island’s sole owner, while Türkiye maintains its support for the rights of the Turkish Cypriot people. Clearly, challenging and uncertain times lie ahead for the island of Cyprus. What remains clear in this blurred atmosphere is that the Turkish Cypriot people are one of the two main sovereign communities on the island, enjoying the same inherent rights as their Greek Cypriot counterparts.