ANKARA/ LEFKOSA, Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus

The Turkish Cypriot president on Friday slammed anti-Turkish statements by US Sen. Bob Menendez over the Island of Cyprus. 

The admission of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) as an observer member of the Organization of Turkic States (TDT) and the visit of Gambian Vice President Badara Joof drew great attention across the world, the presidency stressed in a statement.

That is why the Greek-Greek Cypriot duo made various attempts to block the TRNC's progress toward recognition. The EU, the US and some other forces also took action, it said.

Turkish Cypriot President Ersin Tatar underscored that the chairperson of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, under the guidance of the Greek-Greek Cypriot lobby, made claims on the status of the island with a pro-Greek attitude.

"First of all, the chairperson of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the whole world should know very well that the occupier who exists in Cyprus is the Greek-Greek Cypriot duo who turned the Republic of Cyprus, in which the Turkish Cypriot people are equal founding partners, into a Greek state by force of arms, and this occupation still continues," Tatar said.

He noted that supporters of the duo, who could not digest the steps to recognize the TRNC, continued their attacks, expressing satisfaction that Menendez lifted the arms embargo imposed by the US on the Greek Cypriot Administration of Southern Cyprus and expressed that his support for armament could not be accepted.  

Cyprus has been mired in a decades-long dispute between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, despite a series of diplomatic efforts by the UN to achieve a comprehensive settlement.

Ethnic attacks starting in the early 1960s forced Turkish Cypriots to withdraw into enclaves for their safety.
In 1974, a Greek Cypriot coup aimed at Greece's annexation of the island led to Türkiye's military intervention as a guarantor power to protect Turkish Cypriots from persecution and violence. As a result, the TRNC was founded in 1983.

It has seen an on-and-off peace process in recent years, including a failed 2017 initiative in Switzerland under the auspices of guarantor countries Türkiye, Greece and the UK.

The Greek Cypriot administration entered the European Union in 2004, the same year that Greek Cypriots thwarted a UN plan to end the longstanding dispute.