Ersin Tatar calls on Russia to recognise the TRNC and deal directly with it

President of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, Ersin Tatar has called on Russia to recognise the TRNC and for Russian President Vladimir Putin to interact directly with it.

“I would like to ask the Russian leadership and the Russian people to reconsider their policy on Cyprus, especially after what happened in Ukraine and what is happening in the world with a multitude of global changes,” he said in statements to the TASS news agency.

“If Moscow had direct relations with ‘northern Cyprus’, this would also be beneficial for Turkey, which seeks to develop relations with all countries, including Russia,” he said.

Tatar said that the north and the south of the island should coexist as separate independent states, while the Russian side should reconsider its approach to this issue in accordance with its interests.

“And Moscow’s interest is clearly not on the side of the European solution, which presupposes that the north and the south of Cyprus should be united in a kind of federation under the leadership of the EU and that Turkey should leave this area completely,” he added.

According to TASS, Tatar is convinced that if a united Cyprus joins the EU, Russia will lose its influence in the region and any political ties with the island.

He added that based on his own position “Cyprus should be divided into two independent sovereign parts and, in this way, Ankara’s presence as a security guarantor on the island would remain, while Turkish troops would continue to provide security in the northern part of Cyprus”.