Statement of the TRNC Ministry of Foreign Affairs regarding the visit of United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres to Cyprus

Following the inconclusive outcome of the 2017 Crans-Montana Conference, brought about by the intransigent and maximalist position of the Greek Cypriot administration of Southern Cyprus which refuses to recognise the Turkish Cypriot People as an equal partner, United Nations (UN) Secretary-General António Guterres has on numerous occasions stated that no common ground has been found for the resumption of negotiations towards an agreement on the Cyprus issue.

In his statements and in the Good Offices Mission reports he submitted, Guterres declared that the said Conference had collapsed, and in subsequent periods emphasised that it was now necessary to move beyond the established patterns on Cyprus.

María Ángela Holguín Cuéllar, the UN Secretary-General’s Personal Envoy on Cyprus, recently appointed to assess whether there is common ground on the island, likewise reported, following her contacts with the leaders, that “no common ground exists” to launch formal negotiations between the two sides, once again confirming this concrete reality.

During this process, drawing on the lessons learned from past negotiating experience and on the fact that the Greek Cypriots have repeatedly refused to share governance and prosperity with the Turkish Cypriot People, the TRNC put forward, in 2021, its new vision based on the affirmation of the Turkish Cypriot People’s sovereign equality and equal international status.

While the UN’s own assessments have likewise established that no common ground for negotiations exists, and while there has been no change whatsoever in the realities on this front, Mr Guterres’s planned visit to Cyprus at this juncture, as we approach the final months of his term, together with the new diplomatic initiatives recently brought onto the agenda, gives rise to serious questions and concerns.

In light of these new developments, the TRNC categorically rejects any attempt to create an artificial fait accompli that is incompatible with the realities on the island or to impose parameters upon the Turkish Cypriot People that have not been agreed upon which ultimately aims to take hostage the will of the Turkish Cypriot People. Bringing back, in different guises, models that have repeatedly failed in the past does not contribute to the search for an agreement between the two sides, and serves only to perpetuate the existing status quo which is to the sole benefit of the Greek Cypriots.

As the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the TRNC, we wish to state clearly that we will not enter into an imposed negotiation process without the institutional affirmation of our sovereign equality and equal international status. We invite international actors and the United Nations, in lieu of their efforts to devise artificial formulas that would distort the existing realities on the island, to acknowledge the rightful and legitimate status of the Turkish Cypriot People, lift the isolation imposed on the TRNC without further delay, and respect the existence of two sovereign and equal States and two Peoples on the island of Cyprus.

We would also respectfully urge UN Secretary-General Mr Guterres, whose good faith we do not doubt, to refrain from acting as a mediator in a manner that would breach his Good Offices Mission.