Turkey, N. Cyprus to cooperate on data flow, migration

By Orhan Onur Gemici and Murat Demirci

LEFKOSA, TRNC

Officials from Turkey and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) inked Thursday a cooperation deal on data sharing and migration in the capital of latter.

Following a meeting between delegations behind closed doors, Turkey's Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu and his Turkish Cypriot counterpart Aysegul Baybars signed the cooperation protocol.

In his speech, Soylu said that the agreements signed "added one more brick to the building of brotherhood" between Turkey and TRNC.

"What makes us free and powerful, what makes us independent is the will of unity we have," he said, calling the friendship between Turkey and TRNC as an exceptional example.

Soylu also underlined that TRNC will never be alone and the two countries will maintain their unshakeable unity.

Baybars, on her turn, pointed out the importance of the protocol for the development of cooperation between Turkey and TRNC.

She emphasized that the protocol will boost the cooperation in data flow, combat against international crime and migration issues between the two "close and neighboring" countries.

Any kind of cooperation is an "important step" on prevention of crime in TRNC and ensuring the security in Turkey, Baybars said.

"We are signing two protocols on technical, judicial and administrative cooperation," she added.

Cyprus was divided into a Turkish Cypriot state in the north and a Greek Cypriot administration in the south after a 1974 Greek Cypriot military coup was followed by violence against the island’s Turks and Turkey’s intervention as a guarantor power.

The status of the island remains unresolved in spite of a series of negotiations over the years, including the Crans-Montana talks in 2017, which ended in failure.