Foreign Minister Özersay: “The Turkish Cypriot side is determined to be a decisive foreign policy actor with Turkey”

The Turkish Cypriot side is determined to be a decisive actor with Turkey on foreign policy issues, said Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Kudret Özersay, who noted that the Turkish Cypriot side will act accordingly in the coming period.

Speaking at a conference yesterday on “Security, Energy Strategies, and Global Power Relations in the Eastern Mediterranean” organized by Cyprus Science University (CSU), Özersay pointed out that history places certain responsibilities and missions on certain geographies, countries and people and added that historically, Turkey and Greece have long been the two main actors in the geopolitical power dynamics of the Eastern Mediterranean.

Özersay also said, “We are moving towards a more contemporary understanding of the concept of “security” than was previously conventional,” and emphasized that the meaning of the security issue had changed. International migration, economic crises and changes in energy and energy security have all contributed to changing our understanding of these issues, and the importance of North Cyprus in electricity and water issues has become clear. Özersay emphasized that this will be a decisive factor in defining the stance to be taken by the Turkish Cypriots and Turkey henceforth.

Özersay underlined that it would not be possible to approach the new situation on natural gas and petrol with old paradigms.

While reserving their rights, the Turkish Cypriot side and Turkey had actively avoided taking steps on the hydrocarbons issue before the Cyprus issue reached a settlement. However, Özersay stated that a paradigm shift has occurred since 2011 and indicated that the Turkish Cypriots are committed to taking parallel steps with the Greek Cypriot side from now on.