ANKARA / ISTANBUL 

The foreign minister of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) has criticized the UN Security Council, accusing the body of having “stolen 60 years from the Turkish Cypriot people” despite decades of negotiations on the Cyprus issue.

Tahsin Ertugruloglu, who visited the US last week for the UN General Assembly, spoke to journalists in Washington, where he described Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s call in his UN speech for international recognition of the TRNC as “highly meaningful and extremely important.”

“These were not statements made just for the sake of words,” he said. “As you know, they fully align with a decision unanimously approved by the Turkish parliament.”

Ertugruloglu also said that in his meetings with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and his team, the Turkish Cypriot stance on the Cyprus issue was reiterated multiple times,

He stressed that despite 60 years of negotiations — including efforts by the late Rauf Denktas, the TRNC’s founding president, for a solution through a federation — the Greek Cypriots never genuinely backed the idea. Instead, he said, they joined talks only to avoid blame while derailing every compromise, which unfairly earned Denktas the nickname “Mr. No.”

Ertugruloglu said there is no longer any chance of a new partnership on the island, stressing that that era "ended long ago" largely due to the intransigence of the Greek Cypriot side, backed by permanent members of the UN Security Council.

Going forward, he said, the future of Cyprus will be shaped by “two sovereign and equal states” that can engage in cooperation based on mutual agreement and neighborly relations.

Commenting on the Oct. 19 presidential elections in the TRNC, Ertugruloglu said a “5+1” meeting could be held at the UN in New York afterwards to further discuss the situation, a meeting including both the TRNC president and the Greek Cypriot Administration leader, plus the foreign ministers of the island’s three guarantor countries – Türkiye, Greece, and the United Kingdom – and the UN's Guterres.

On military activity in the Greek Cypriot side, he stressed that as long as the Turkish Armed Forces remain in the TRNC, there will be no military threat to the Turkish Cypriots.

On reports that the Greek Cypriot Administration is being used as a base to transport ammunition to Israel, he warned that the Greek side — backed by Israel and possibly the US — might even consider a military move against Türkiye.

He noted that Washington lifted its arms embargo on the Greek Cypriot Administration in 2021 and is now supplying it with weapons and training its soldiers.  

Decades-long Cyprus problem

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 EU in 2004, the same year that Greek Cypriots single-handedly blocked a UN plan to end the longstanding dispute.