Merve Yildizalp, Koray Tasdemir and Serdar Dincel
20 July 2025•Update: 20 July 2025
ISTANBUL
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday met with Ersin Tatar, his Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus counterpart, said Türkiye's Communications Directorate on X.
No further information on the meeting has yet been provided.
Erdogan on Sunday arrived in the TRNC to attend ceremonies marking the 51st anniversary of the Cyprus Peace Operation, known as Peace and Freedom Day.
Erdogan was welcomed at Ercan Airport by Tatar with an official ceremony.
As a part of his visit, President Erdogan visited the Atatürk Monument with Tatar.
After a moment of silence and the singing of the National Anthem, President Erdogan laid a wreath at the monument.
The ceremony was also attended by TRNC Prime Minister Unal Ustel, TRNC Parliament Speaker Ziya Ozturkler, and Ali Murat Basceri, Türkiye's ambassador to Lefkosa, the TRNC capital.
The delegation accompanying Erdogan includes Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, Health Minister Kemal Memisoglu, Deputy Parliament Speaker Bekir Bozdag, Communications Director Burhanettin Duran, and chief presidential adviser Akif Cagatay Kilic.
1974 Peace Operation to protect Turkish Cypriots from violence, persecution
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 Cyprus Peace Operation 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.
