Turkey wants to see 'self-sufficient' Northern Cyprus

ANKARA

Turkey wants to see a progressing Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) that is self-sufficient and confident, Turkey's vice president said Monday.

Speaking at a joint news conference with TRNC Prime Minister Ersan Saner at the presidential complex in the capital Ankara, Fuat Oktay said there are "a few points" that his country always emphasizes regarding economic and development cooperation with the TRNC.

"We desire a progressing TRNC that is self-sufficient, stands on its feet with self-confidence, can produce added value with its industry, agriculture and production besides tourism, has completed the structural reforms needed for its realization and whose decision-making mechanisms work in the most effective way. In this direction, we said that we, as Turkey, will do whatever we have to do, and we reiterate this will here today," Oktay said.

"We will continue to create a much stronger TRNC together which will carry Turkey-TRNC cooperation and brotherhood to a much further level," he added.

Oktay also noted that he had a comprehensive meeting with Saner on the common agenda.

"We have put forward our solution proposals by comprehensively addressing the projects carried out in the TRNC and the developments in the political and economic fields. We also had the opportunity to go through the ongoing projects."

The vice president said they evaluated in particular the actions agreed with the 2021 Cooperation Protocol, as well as its shortcomings and the point reached.

'No time to waste'

"The Greek side should stop seeing themselves as the sole owner of the island," Oktay said.

He stressed that the Greek side did not give up trying to disguise the federation model that they rejected for years.

"The Turkish side no longer has time to waste on empty rhetoric and negotiations with an uncertain end. It is futile to seek solutions within the parameters of the UN that are outdated and do not reflect the consent of both parties," he said.

Oktay went on to say that this is now a "struggle for survival, independence and the future" of the Turkish Cypriot people and the TRNC.

Cyprus has been mired in a decades-long dispute between Greek 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 led to Turkey's military intervention as a guarantor power to protect Turkish Cypriots from persecution and violence. As a result, the TRNC was founded in 1983.

*Writing by Jeyhun Aliyev