Ertugruloglu: Greek Cypriots are dizzy from American pampering
The north’s ‘foreign minister’ Tahsin Ertugruloglu on Thursday said the Greek Cypriot leadership is “dizzy from American pampering”.
Reacting to President Nikos Christodoulides’ meeting with United States President Joe Biden, he said the favourable treatment offered to the Republic by the US has allowed the Greek Cypriot leadership to “overstep its limits and begin to express itself as an actor in the Eastern Mediterranean, even as an actor which would replace Turkey”.
“This impudent mentality, which confuses their role as an extra with one as an actor, has begun to display the wretchedness of comparing the dwarf Greek Cypriot state with the Republic of Turkey, the only serious actor in the region. The US must immediately stop encouraging this impudence,” he said.
To this end, he added, “we have been insistently stating for a long time that the support provided by the US administration to the Greek Cypriot administration under the guise of a strategic partnership poses a danger of altering the region’s delicate balances.
“Despite all our warnings, the open support given to the Greek Cypriot administration is an effort to put pressure on the Turkish Cypriot side to return to talks for a federal solution to the Cyprus problem – something for which the TRNC has withdrawn its consent.”
He then said the US government has been “advising individuals and delegations who want to visit our country not to use [Ercan (Tymbou)] airport” and is “even trying to prevent them from visiting our country.”
“It is trying to increase its emphasis in the reports it publishes that there is only one legal state on the island. In short, it is threatening to increase its support for the Greek Cypriots if the Turkish Cypriot side does not agree to talks for a federal solution,” he added.
He went on to say American support for the Republic is being “exploited” by the Greek Cypriot side, which is “creating a perception that it supports the start of a so-called negotiation process on the Cyprus problem.”
“The most important issue that the international community, especially the US administration, is ignoring is this: the Greek Cypriot side’s sole aim is to chain the Turkish Cypriot side to the table for ever with this so-called negotiation process, to continue its own international representation as the ‘sole legal representative of the island’, and to isolate the Turkish Cypriot people for ever,” he said.
Turning his attention back to the matter of regional actors, he said, “no power will ever be able to ignore the existence and rights of our motherland, the Republic of Turkey, or the Turkish Cypriot people in the Eastern Mediterranean region.
“The TRNC is the sole legal representative of the Turkish Cypriot people. It is essential that the international community abandons its denial of the facts on the ground in Cyprus … and stops treating the Greek Cypriot administration as a legal representative.”
He concluded, “from now on, any partnership between the two sides, let alone a federal Cyprus, is nothing but a dream. The future of the island of Cyprus depends on two separate states developing good neighbourly relations side by side.”
His comments came after Joe Biden had said he remains optimistic “about the possibility that a reunited Cyprus under a bizonal, bicommunal federation is possible” during his meeting with Nikos Christodoulides at the White House.
“This year marks the 50th anniversary of the artificial division of the island. I remember it well, I was in my first year in the US Senate,” he began, before adding that Turkey’s invasion of the island was a “sad day” and a “sad occasion”.
Christodoulides also spoke on the Cyprus problem, saying, “I count on your support, and the support of the US, in our efforts to resume negotiations” to resolve the Cyprus problem on the basis of a bizonal, bicommunal, federal solution.