TRNC president Ersin Tatar meet with UN’s Secretary General’s special envoy Jane Lute, said it's time to discuss two-state solution to Cyprus

TRNC president, Ersin Tatar (R) and UN Secretary General’s special envoy Jane Holl Lute (L) during a meeting on Tuesday. Photo source: Cyprus Mail

TRNC president and leader, Ersin Tatar stated his position on a two-state solution to the Cyprus problem and the need for a five-party summit to the UN Secretary General’s special envoy Jane Holl Lute during a meeting on Tuesday.

Lute, who arrived on Sunday meet with the two leaders of the divided island to determine the prospect of an informal five-party summit.

Lute first met Tatar in Lefkosa before meeting with Greek Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades in Nicosia.

Tatar said he explained to the UN official his position on a two-state solution and that realities on the island have changed, citing failure to reach a federal solution during the past 52 years.

Tatar also said he told Lute that a five-party meeting with the participation of the two communities, guarantors Greece, Turkey and the UK, plus the UN, would give him the opportunity to elaborate on his position.

It will be important for there to be a negotiation process for two states that, based on sovereign equality, will co-exist side by side and cooperate, Tatar said, according to reports in the north. He reiterated that the talks should not resume from where they left off in 2017.

He also said that he explained to Lute that the Turkish Cypriots “have the right to live in this country in peace, prosperity and security,” and pointed out that based on the 1960 agreements, they are one of the two parts of these agreements. 

The Turkish Cypriot people are one of the two peoples living here and they have sovereign rights stemming from these agreements, he said.

Tatar added that the other side will not dominate and that the Turkish Cypriots have the right to self-determination and such a climate should be created so that they can use this right. Since 1974, he said, the Turkish side showed goodwill and flexibility in all negotiation processes, as well as during the Annan Plan period and in Crans-Montana in 2017 without finding a response from the other side. 

That is why a process on the same basis is not going to work from now on. The Turkish Cypriot people deserve this because they are the real hostage, he said.

He said that Turkish Cypriots cannot play in international games, citing their isolation and “embargo” economically, politically and in culture. Tatar also brought up the issue of direct flights to the north and called for “more creativity” in opening the community and the Turkish Cypriots to the outside world.

In her visit to Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades, he reiterated his readiness for the resumption of the talks from where they left off in Crans-Montana in 2017.

Cyprus Government Spokesman Kyriacos Koushos said the president reiterated the Greek Cypriot side’s positions “on the solution of the Cyprus problem and our readiness to resume the talks from where they left off in Crans-Montana.

The president informed Lute of his readiness to participate in an informal five-party meeting to be convened by the UN secretary-general within the terms of his mandate, as set out by the UN Security Council, Koushos said.

This was an indirect reference to the government’s stated rejection of a two-state solution, which is promoted by Tatar and Ankara.

Lute will continue her contacts with the other parties and brief the UN secretary-general.

Lute made no statement and would visit Turkey at a later stage.