Minister Ertuğruloğlu speaks at 28th Eurasian Economic Summit

Minister of Foreign Affairs Tahsin Ertuğruloğlu, delivered a speech at the “Ecology, Economy, Energy, Artificial Intelligence and Health” session of the 28^th Eurasian Economic Summit held this year in İstanbul, yesterday.

In his address, Minister Ertuğruloğlu stated, “The Cyprus issue is the recognition of the Greek Cypriot Administration as the Republic of Cyprus.” Minister Ertuğruloğlu emphasized that the “Republic of Cyprus,” established in 1960, ended in 1963 when the Greek Cypriots removed the Turkish Cypriots from government institutions by force of arms and afterwards two states have existed on the island.

The Minister criticized the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) for ignoring the reality of Cyprus since 1964, noting that the Council has allowed the Greek Cypriots to act as if they are sole owner of the Republic of Cyprus.

Minister Ertuğruloğlu underlined that throughout this process, the permanent member states of the UNSC “have disregarded the status and sovereignty” of the Turkish Cypriot people and added that the “Cyprus problem was misdiagnosed and this mistake continues today.

Ertuğruloğlu also pointed out that it is easy to say that the Cyprus problem needs to be solved and that it should first to be decided what is meant by this problem. “The Cyprus problem is the recognition of the Greek Cypriot state as the Republic of Cyprus”, he explained. As long as this mistake continues and the existence of the Turkish Cypriot state on the island is denied, it will not be possible to solve the Cyprus problem in any meaningful way.”

Minister Ertuğruloğlu concluded by stating that Turkish Cypriots could not find an international platform to express themselves, said “The only reason I have this opportunity to speak to you on this platform today is because this event is being held in Türkiye. Nowhere else do we have such an opportunity.”