BERLIN

The president of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) on Tuesday lambasted his German counterpart over a recent visit to the Greek Cypriot administration.  

"We leave them alone with their consciences. If they still cannot see the realities of Cyprus, if they still cannot understand, then the fault is not ours, it is theirs," Ersin Tatar told reporters while visiting the TRNC's stand at the International Tourism Fair in Berlin.

Tatar was referring to German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier's visit to the Greek Cypriot administration on Feb. 12. 

Emphasizing that two separate communities exist on Cyprus, Tatar said that for over 350 years until the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923, the island had been part of the Ottoman Empire.

Tatar pointed out that Greek and Greek Cypriots have never solely dominated Cyprus, adding, "With such a history on the island, there was an increase in the Greek population during the British period," referring to the British occupation from 1914 to 1925, and then the island being a Crown colony until 1960. 

"Every injustice was done to the Turkish Cypriots to annex Cyprus to Greece. Thanks to Türkiye always standing by our side, we were able to prevent this." 

"Turkish Cypriots have the right of sovereignty as much as Greek Cypriots. They have the right to establish a state there. Since they demolished that state by force of arms and expelled the Turks, Turkish Cypriots established their own state with their inherent acquired rights," he added.

Tatar stressed Cyprus' close proximity to Türkiye, lying just 60 kilometers (about 37 miles) south of the Turkish coast, while it is 1,000 km (621 mi) from Greece, and 2,000 km (1,243 mi) from the center of the EU. 

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.