The Minister of Foreign Affairs Tahsin Ertuğruloğlu has said that it is out of the question for the Turkish Cypriot side to recognize the Greek Cypriot administration as the ‘Republic of Cyprus’.

He said that the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s first foreign visit to the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) following his re-election as president gave a strong and meaningful response to the Greek Cypriots.

Assessing the Turkish president’s recent visit to the TRNC to the Anadolu News Agency, Foreign Minister Ertuğruloğlu said that  Erdoğan’s precondition for the resumption of negotiations, which included the recognition of the TRNC, was a strong response to the Greek Cypriots.

Ertuğruloğlu also said that it was out of the question for the TRNC to recognize the Greek Cypriot administration as the “Republic of Cyprus.

“Even if the world turns upside down, our recognition of the Greek Cypriot administration as the so-called ‘Republic of Cyprus’ is out of the question. It is not possible for us to enter a federal partnership with the Republic of Cyprus. From now on, they will either confront these realities or continue on their path with lies and deceit. We will proceed on our own path with our homeland, Türkiye.”

Ertuğruloğlu emphasized that the TRNC will never step back from a two-state solution, which guarantees its sovereign and equal international status.

“They are calling a purely Greek state the ‘Republic of Cyprus’. The Turkish Cypriot people have their own state which is the TRNC. They are not a community of the so-called ‘Republic of Cyprus.’ There is no meaning in making such claims and expressing ideas without understanding these facts,” he said.

Ertuğruloğlu underlined the importance of the two states on the island living side by side in the future and preferably having good neighbourly relations.