Cyprus blames Turkey for demanding recognition of “its illegal faits accomplis” on the island

Cyprus blames Turkey for demanding recognition of “its illegal faits accomplis” on the island
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Update: 27 September 2022 20:45
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Cypriot President Anastasiades said 37% of the territory of the Republic of Cyprus, an EU member state, remains under Turkey’s military occupation

Turkey has established an illegal entity in Northern Cyprus, which is under its absolute political, economic, social, cultural and religious control, said Nikos Anastasiades, the president of the Republic of Cyprus.

“Turkey, which systematically violates international law, calls on the international community to recognize its illegal faits accomplis,” Anastasiades said in response to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s recent call on the international community to recognize the administration of northern Cyprus as a legitimate, sovereign state.

“Thirty-seven percent of the territory of the Republic of Cyprus, an EU member state, remains under [Turkey’s] military occupation,” he said during a speech addressing the UN General Assembly on Friday.

Last week, Erdogan urged UN member states to accept that here are two states and two different nations in Cyprus. 

“It is the key for the solution to the problems on the island of Cyprus to accept that the Turkish Cypriots have equal and sovereign rights and that their international status is to be accepted,” Erdogan said in his address to the UNGA77.

The Eastern Mediterranean island has been ethnically split since July 20,1974, when Turkish military intervened in response to a Greek Cypriot coup d’etat, ordered by the military junta in Greece, aiming to unify the island with Greece (ENOSİS). 

Internationally recognized Republic of Cyprus, governed by the Greek Cypriots, controls the south of the island, and the Turkish Cypriots, the north. The administration in the northern part of Cyprus is only recognized by Turkey, where the country still keeps about 30,000 troops.

Quoting Erdogan that “Turkey want all issues in the Aegean Sea and the Eastern Mediterranean to be solved within the framework of good neighborly relations and in conformity with international law,” Anastasiades said it is “ironic” for the Turkish President to “put forward such a claim.”

“How even more provocative is it to express the desire to resolve disputes “in conformity with international law”, when he refuses to implement numerous resolutions of the United Nations on the Cyprus Problem and creates new faits accomplis,” Anastasiades said.