Türkiye to continue to defend rights of Turkish Cypriot people: Erdoğan

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has reiterated that the recognition of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) as an independent state would be the most effective step towards a solution on the island.

“We do not recognize other options,” Erdoğan said while speaking to journalists at a news conference in New York, adding that federation proposals on the island are not realistic and that Türkiye, as a guarantor, will continue to defend the rights of Turkish Cypriots in line with international law.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Thursday that Türkiye was determined to continue defending the rights of the Turkish Cypriot people.

He said that the recognition of the TRNC would be the most effective step towards a solution on the island and repeated that a federal settlement was no longer a viable solution model for the Cyprus problem.

“Denying this reality is nothing more than condemning the island to a non-solution,” Erdoğan said, adding that the TRNC’s international recognition would serve peace in the Eastern Mediterranean.

“We are waiting for the continuation of the door opened by the TRNC’s accession to the Organization of Turkic States (OTS) as an observer member. The recognition of the TRNC as an independent state by the countries one after the other serves peace and tranquillity in the Eastern Mediterranean,” he said.

He noted that Türkiye’s roadmap would now focus on the full protection of the TRNC’s rights and effective steps to be taken to integrate the country in the international system.