The international community has caused the Cyprus problem and continues to “misdefine” it, according to the top diplomat of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC).
"It is the international community that created the Cyprus problem and they continue to misdefine the problem," Foreign Minister Tahsin Ertuğruloğlu said Saturday at the 4th International Strategic Communication Summit (Stratcom Summit '24) organized by the Turkish Presidential Communications Directorate in Istanbul, Türkiye.
Emphasizing that international platforms have failed to support the Turkish Cypriot people or provide opportunities for them to give voice to their cause, Ertuğruloğlu stated that, on the contrary, these platforms have actively hindered efforts to share the realities on the island.
He said that despite the embargoes and restrictions imposed on the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), the Turkish Cypriot side continues to counter global misinformation and propaganda by striving to present the truth.
"The voice of Turkish Cypriots is not heard. No one wants to listen to the Turkish Cypriot side of the story," he added, asserting that the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council have "created an environment of misinformation."
"We have every reason to criticize Greek Cypriots because they have been unfair to us from day one, but the real parties that should be criticized and condemned are the international community, led by the U.N. Security Council and the EU, who have allowed Greek Cypriots to get away with their crimes."
"It is these actors who have given Greek Cypriots the opportunity to impose an embargo against us," he said.
The island of Cyprus has been mired in a decadeslong dispute between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots despite a series of diplomatic efforts by the U.N. 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 TRNC was founded in 1983.
It has seen an on-and-off peace process in recent years, including a failed 2017 initiative in Switzerland under the auspices of guarantor countries Türkiye, Greece and the United Kingdom.
The Greek Cypriot administration entered the European Union in 2004, the same year that Greek Cypriots single-handedly blocked a U.N. plan to end the longstanding dispute.
