TRNC Minister of Foreign Affairs Tahsin Ertuğruloğlu said that the response of the leader of Greek Cypriot Administration, Nikos Anastasiades, to Turkish Foreign Minister, Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, “If Türkiye recognizes the Republic of Cyprus and accepts the delineation of the borders between the two countries’ exclusive economic zones, everything is on the negotiation table” is not a response to be taken seriously.
Foreign Minister Tahsin Ertuğruloğlu, who attended the BRTK TV program on 15th April by phone, stated that Anastasiades’ response should not be considered as a response to be taken seriously after Çavuşoğlu had explained the well-known line of the Turkish Cypriot side on hydrocarbons in a very comprehensive and very logical manner. In his comments, Minister Ertuğruloğlu underlined that it is clear that no progress will be made as the Greek Cypriot side considers itself to be the “Republic of Cyprus” but regards the Turkish Cypriots simply as a community within the so-called Republic of Cyprus.
The Minister stated that the proposals made by the Turkish Cypriot side, for fairly sharing and exploiting resources in the Eastern Mediterranean presented in 2011, 2012 and 2019 are still on the negotiating table. Minister Ertuğruloğlu noted, however, that Anastasiades continues his policy to disregard the Turkish Cypriot side and to invite Türkiye to recognize the Greek Cypriot “so-called state” under the title of the “so-called” Republic of Cyprus. Ertuğruloğlu stressed that this is a fruitless effort and they must understand that as long as they insist on this no compromise or cooperation will result.
Source: TRNC Public Information Office
