Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) Prime Minister Ünal Üstel on Saturday welcomed Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan's stance during his meeting with the UN secretary-general's personal envoy on Cyprus, saying it reflected the shared position of Türkiye and the Turkish Cypriot people on the island's future.
Üstel said Fidan's remarks that "no approach that does not recognize the inherent rights of the Turkish Cypriot people, namely their sovereign equality and equal international status, will serve a solution" were important, adding that this approach reflected not only Türkiye's unwavering position but also the unchanging will of the Turkish Cypriot people.
Recalling that the Turkish Cypriot people were equal founding partners of the 1960 Republic, Üstel stressed that no approach aimed at reducing Turkish Cypriots to minority status by ignoring this historical and legal reality would be accepted.
Üstel said that if a new and lasting process is to begin in Cyprus, its prerequisite is the recognition of the Turkish Cypriot people's sovereign equality and equal international status.
"We welcome the clear, principled and resolute stance demonstrated by Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan during his meeting with UN Secretary-General's Personal Envoy on Cyprus Maria Angela Holguin Cuellar," he said.
"The fact that the Republic of Türkiye once again expressed in the clearest terms that a solution to the Cyprus issue is only possible on the basis of the existing realities on the island and with an understanding under which two states coexist side by side is a strong indication of the support given to the policy pursued by the TRNC and a concrete indication of our common stance," he said.
Ahead of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres' visit to the island, Üstel called on the international community, saying: "Instead of once again bringing to the agenda exhausted federation models that have failed to produce results on Cyprus for more than half a century, a new understanding based on the political and de facto realities on the island should be adopted."
"A realistic, fair and sustainable solution is only possible through a two-state cooperation model based on the equal status of the two sides and founded on mutual respect."
Cyprus has been mired in a decades-long dispute between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, despite diplomatic efforts by the UN to achieve a comprehensive settlement.
Ethnic attacks that started in the early 1960s forced Turkish Cypriots to withdraw into enclaves for their safety.
In 1974, a Greek Cypriot coup aimed at the annexation of the island by Greece led to Türkiye's military intervention as a guarantor power to protect Turkish Cypriots from persecution and violence. As a result, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) was founded in 1983.
It has seen an on-and-off peace process in recent years, including a failed 2017 initiative in Switzerland under the auspices of the guarantor countries of Türkiye, Greece, and the UK.
The Greek Cypriot Administration entered the EU in 2004, the same year Greek Cypriots single-handedly blocked a UN plan to end the longstanding dispute.
