Improving Cyprus-US relations ‘may push Russia to recognise north’
Improving relations between Cyprus and the United States may push Russia to recognise the north, Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar’s international relations advisor Hasan Unal said on Thursday.
Speaking to Turkish newspaper Milliyet, he said the Greek Cypriot side’s “persistent efforts to bring the US to the island will work against it in a multipolar world”.
“This goes as far as Russia recognising the TRNC,” he said.
He said the US will claim innocence in the move, adding, “if you ask the US, they will say ‘we are just doing this as part of the buildup in the Middle East, we are establishing a base in Cyprus,’ just like they said they were establishing a base in [the Greek town of] Alexandoupoli for ‘shipments to Europe’.”
However, he asserted that there are key differences between setting up a navy base in Alexandroupoli and stationing permanent military staff in Cyprus.
“First of all, Cyprus is still an unresolved issue, this is a conflict area. You are establishing a base in a conflict zone. Secondly, this is against the letter and spirit of the 1960 agreements that Turkey also signed,” he said, referring to the treaties of Zurich and London which resulted in Cyprus’ independence and the creation of its guarantor powers.
“The US should be warned, but the Greek Cypriots do not understand it that way. They are making possibilities for a solution difficult to come by. The late [Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf] Denktash used to say, ‘the Greek Cypriots do not leave us the opportunity to make mistakes with their mistakes’,” he added.
To this end, he said, “the Greek Cypriots’ fanaticism is so heightened that it will harm them as well. They are persistently trying to bring the US here, but this situation will also work against them in time in the multipolar world. It will turn Cyprus into a fault line, a breaking point in this multipolar power struggle.
“This will lead to Russia recognising the TRNC in this multipolar world,” he said, adding that if the US establishes a permanent base on the island, “the situation would give Turkey the right to establish naval and air bases on TRNC territory.”
Unal’s statements came after Tatar had made less assertive comments on the matter on Wednesday, telling the north’s public broadcaster BRT that “everyone should jump according to their height”, and that any move towards Nato on the part of the Republic “should be calculated”.
Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides met his American counterpart Joe Biden at the White House last month, saying during the meeting that relations between Cyprus and the US are now at a “historical high”.
Cooperation between the two countries on the matter of defence was touched upon during the meeting, with Christodoulides later expressing fears that the US may “step back” from its role in the international community after the country’s presidential election.