Foreign Minister Tahsin Ertuğruloğlu on Wednesday emphasized that the future in Cyprus will be shaped by the collaboration of two separate sovereign states.

Ertuğruloğlu also stated that steps are being taken in coordination with Ankara regarding the Cyprus issue.

Speaking on a programme he attended, Foreign Minister Tahsin Ertuğruloğlu said that the expectation from the Personal Envoy of the UN Secretary-General for the Cyprus issue, Maria Angela Holguin was to accurately convey to the UN Secretary-General without waiting for six months that “there is no common ground.”

Regarding his recent visit to Ankara, Ertuğruloğlu said, “Steps are being taken in coordination with Ankara regarding the Cyprus issue,” and added, “From the beginning of the appointment process of the Personal Envoy of the UN Secretary-General for the Cyprus issue, Maria Angela Holguin, the approach has been that there is no common ground and there won’t be. I am saying this as someone who speaks so openly.”

He however added that that this should not be interpreted as “there is common ground, but that efforts are being made to hinder any prospects for achieving this.”

Ertuğruloğlu pointed out that if policies are to be made based on reality, first and foremost, the title unfairly used by the Greek Cypriot side, the “Republic of Cyprus,” must be eliminated in order for there to be common ground.

He expressed the necessity of drawing lessons from the destruction of the 1960 Republic which was based on guaranteed political equality in a single night adding that political equality was indispensable for Turkish Cypriots.

“The political equality we are demanding to have any meaning, must be based on sovereign equality,” he said.

The TRNC Foreign Minister said that the realities on the island needed to be recognised if peace and stability in the Eastern Mediterranean was to prevail.

He noted that this entails acknowledging the existence of two separate national identities, two separate states, two separate democracies, and two separate sovereignties on the island, and drawing upon past experiences.

Ertuğruloğlu remarked that the future can only be shaped through good neighbourly relations between two sovereign separate states and added that advocating a policy based on the existence of two separate sovereign states does not create a problem on the island.

“By collaborating as two separate sovereign states, we can live quite well in peace and harmony. These are our fundamental approaches and the constant messages given to Ms. Holguin.

Foreign Minister Ertuğruloğlu stated that resuming negotiations from where they left off in Crans-Montana in 2017 and starting so-called federal partnership negotiations, as desired by the Greek Cypriots, were not on the agenda.

He stated that as long as the Greek Cypriots are pampered by the world and unfair embargoes continue against Turkish Cypriots, there will be no mention of common ground,

“It is not possible to achieve a solution as equals from a [negotiating] table formed on the basis of inequality,” he said, adding that the Turkish Cypriot side had found the right ground after the collapse of talks in Crans Montana in 2017.

He added that the future will be shaped by the collaboration of two separate sovereign states.