Turkish President Recep Erdoğan called on Greek Cypriots to “face reality” and recognise Northern Cyprus, in his first overseas trip since re-election.
The EU had no place at the table, he argued on June 12. The Greek Cypriot south had sought new EU-brokered peace talks after UN-led talks flagged.
The Cypriot dispute has heated up after discovery of offshore gas deposits in the region, in high European demand after Russia invaded Ukraine. Turkey does not recognise a continental shelf and exclusive economic zone around the Greek islands.
“If there is to be a return to the negotiating table, the way to do this is through recognition” of Northern Cyprus, said Erdoğan.
Cyprus needed to recognise the North’s “rightful demands” of equal status before any talks took place, he said.
Meanwhile, Erdoğan would “resolutely defend the rights and interests of Türkiye and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus”, he promised.
More than half a century had “been wasted” due to a Greek Cypriot position he called “uncompromising and maximalist”, he said.
Tensions between the two sides have increased recently, with Turkey criticising Greece for stationing troops on islands in the eastern Aegean, near Turkey’s coast.
Greece’s former prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, currently running as a candidate in the country’s upcoming elections, has meanwhile rejected holding discussions with Turkey over the status of the demilitarised Aegen islands.
Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkey invaded the island’s northern third after a post-coup government wanted to unite the island with the Greek mainland.
In 1983, the Turkish Cypriots declared Northern Cyprus as the independent Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, though only Turkey recognises it.
In 2004, the European Union welcomed the entire island of Cyprus into its membership, but suspended application of EU law in north until the two sides reached a settlement.
