The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) will “not be brought to its knees” by international embargoes and has charted its own path, TRNC President Ersin Tatar said Tuesday.
"They will not bring us to our knees with restrictions like direct flight bans, trade bans, contact bans and sports embargoes," Tatar told an exhibition at Ankara Hacı Bayram Veli University to mark the 50th anniversary of the Cyprus Peace Operation.
He emphasized the need to lift the embargoes on the TRNC.
"The policy we are pursuing is a two-state policy. This is important because the Turkish state in the north is independent and sovereign. In the Blue Homeland, we discuss a geography where we have greater rights and entitlements, along with Türkiye, concerning maritime jurisdictions, territorial waters, airspace and various exclusive economic zones."
In his speech, Tatar provided historical insights on the island of Cyprus, noting that "during the Ottoman period, Greeks on the island lived in peace for 350 uninterrupted years."
He noted that Cyprus was under British rule from 1923 to 1960 and highlighted the presence of two British sovereign bases, which he said put the island at risk.
He pointed to Türkiye's consistent support for Turkish Cypriots and noted that Greeks made preparations with Greece in the Beşparmak Mountains before the Cyprus Peace Operation, which shaped the current map.
He said there has been a long struggle for a federal solution on the Island.
"They unilaterally accepted South Cyprus into the EU, complicating the resolution of the Cyprus issue," he added.
Tatar said the TRNC is turning its focus to the Turkic world and asserted that Turkish Cypriots will protect all the riches around the Island in the Eastern Mediterranean.
Tatar asserted that the Turkish Cypriots' right to maintain their state is a human right that cannot be denied.
He emphasized their determination to defend their state, responding to objections by saying, “I have 85 million people of Türkiye behind me."
The TRNC entirely broke away from the south and declared independence in 1983 after a coup aimed at Greece’s annexation of the Island led to Türkiye’s military intervention, dubbed the Cyprus Peace Operation, as a guarantor power to protect Turkish Cypriots from persecution and violence.
An international embargo against Turkish Cyprus is currently in place in several areas that allow access to international communications, postal services and transport only through Türkiye.
Turkish Cyprus has been committed to demanding a two-state solution that would ensure international recognition and equal sovereignty and status, something the Greek Cypriots reject out of hand.
The Island has seen an on-and-off peace process in recent years. U.N.-backed reunification talks have been in limbo since the last round collapsed at Crans-Montana, Switzerland, in July 2017 between guarantor countries Türkiye, Greece and the U.K.
The Greek Cypriot administration joined the EU in 2004, the same year Greek Cypriots thwarted a U.N. plan to end the longstanding dispute.
Today, the Turkish side supports a solution based on the equal sovereignty of the two states on the Island. On the other hand, the Greek side wants a federal solution based on the hegemony of the Greeks.
Tatar is set to attend an informal dinner with Greek Cypriot administration leader Nikos Christodoulides, based on the proposal of U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, next week in New York.
The Turkish Cypriots, however, have made it clear they will not entertain the controversial “federation” idea for the divided Island, which will not be included at next week’s meeting.
Guterres assigned a special representative to the Island earlier this year. Maria Cuellar has met with Tatar and Christodoulides several times to explore the possibility of common ground for transitioning to a new and official negotiation process to resolve decades of conflict on the ethnically divided Island.
Many observers see this latest U.N. initiative as a last chance for the island. Guterres warned in a recent report: "The prospects of a solution that everyone can accept are gradually fading."
A Cyprus peace deal would reduce a source of potential conflict next door to an unstable Middle East and allow for the easier harnessing of hydrocarbon reserves in the Eastern Mediterranean's natural gas-rich waters where Türkiye has a drillship probing the seabed.
