Foreign Minister Tahsin Ertuğruloğlu has said that the construction of the Pile-Yiğitler road remains the Turkish Cypriot side’s top priority regarding its dialogue with the United Nations.

He added that the road project has not been abandoned and will be definitely be completed.

Also commenting on the European Parliamentary elections, Ertuğruloğlu said that the nomination of Turkish Cypriot candidates by Greek Cypriot political parties was a PR gimmick aimed at creating the false perception of “Cypriots electing their parliamentarians through mixed voting.”

This he highlighted was a betrayal of the existence, status, sovereignty, rights, and law of the Turkish Cypriots.

Speaking on BRT on Thursday, Foreign Minister Tahsin Ertuğruloğlu said that it a solution of the Cyprus Problem was not possible without defining the problem itself.

Interpreting the United Nations Security Council Resolution 186 dated March 4, 1964, the TRNC foreign minister said that the definition of the Cyprus problem was the representation of the so-called Republic of Cyprus by the Greek Cypriot side, stating that all the problems experienced in Cyprus are rooted in the recognition of the Greek Cypriot side as the legitimate government on the island.

Regarding the developments in the buffer zone, Ertuğruloğlu pointed out that he has never preferred to use the term “Green Line,” emphasizing that there is no such thing as the Green Line, but rather an official border between two states.

“We have not given up our rights in the buffer zone,” Ertuğruloğlu said, noting that the UN’s disregard of the Turkish Cypriot side’s rights were creating problems.

He pointed out that a similar attitude was observed in the Pile-Yiğitler road, stating that the EU adopts a similar stance and considers the buffer zone as its own territory.

Explaining that a section of the work on the Pile-Yiğitler road in an area called the Çayhan plateau had been completed but that currently all work had been paused due to an ongoing disagreement with the UN.

“However the construction and completion of the road remains our top priority with our dialogue with the UN. We will complete this road at all costs. We want to build a road that passes directly from our land to Pile, as long as we do not pass through the British Sovereign Base Territory for the use of the Turkish Cypriot residents of Pile which are experiencing great hardships travelling to and from the TRNC,” he said.

Also touching upon the upcoming European Parliamentary elections, Ertuğruloğlu drew attention to the propaganda attempts of the Greek Cypriot side to portray “Cypriots electing their parliamentarians through mixed elections,” stating that this is a betrayal of the existence, status, sovereignty, rights, and law of the Turkish Cypriots.

“This is unacceptable. A member of the Greek Cypriot AKEL party cannot open an office and campaign here in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, calling on Turkish Cypriots to vote. This is not a matter of freedom. This is disguising fraud as a freedom,” he said.

Foreign Minister Ertuğruloğlu underlined that the Turkish Cypriots have a separate national identity on the island, stating that those who defend the idea of a single Cypriot nation have a severely flawed and dangerous perspective on the Cyprus issue.