Greece, Cyprus blast Turkey of trying to upgrade the Northern Cypriot administration internationally

Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias and Cypriot Foreign Minister Ioannis Kasoulides blasted Turkey of trying to upgrade the presence of Turkish-controlled Northern Cyprus in the international arena.

“Any Turkish attempt to create faits accomplis either in Greece or in Cyprus, will result in a European response,” Dendias said during a joint press briefing with Kasoulides in Athens on Monday.

Greece will continue to fully support a “just and viable” solution to the Cyprus issue, which is a bicommunal and bizonal federation, Dendias said. 

“A solution which is based on the resolutions of the United Nations Security Council, a solution compatible with the European acquis,” he said, adding that the settlement of the Cyprus issue within the framework he mentioned is a top priority of Greek foreign policy. 

“It is, indeed, of great importance to reiterate this ahead of the sad anniversary of the declaration of the pseudo-state,” he said.

The Eastern Mediterranean island has been ethnically split since 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 the Cyprus that declared the foundation of the “Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) on Nov.15, 1983, is only recognized by Turkey.

Greece and Cyprus are closely following all Turkish efforts to upgrade the presence of the “pseudo-state” in the international arena, Dendias said.

Accusing Turkey of being in an irrational situation due to its “revisionist policies,” Cypriot Foreign Minister Kasoulides also said that Turkey is “putting all its weight behind securing an upgrading of the secessionist entity in the occupied territories.”

Several diplomatic initiatives under the auspices of the United Nations have failed to reunite the island.

In April last year, Greek Cypriot leader Nikos Anastasiades and Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar, alongside delegations from Turkey, Greece and the United Kingdom - the guarantor countries of the Cyprus Republic, established in 1960, held meetings in Switzerland to search common ground for the resumption of unification talks. However, no deal was reached after Turkey and Turkish Cypriot side called for a two-state solution, despite UN resolutions supporting a peace agreement through the establishment of a bizonal, bicommunal federation.

In September, Turkish President Recep Tayyip 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.