Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu stated that both the TRNC and the Turkish Cypriot people have rights on the hydrocarbon wealth.

Çavuşoğlu expressed that Cyprus has always been the priority for the Turkish foreign policy.

Adding that they have always worked for reaching a permanent solution in Cyprus, Çavuşoğlu said “the Greek Cypriot side does not accept these efforts. The negotiations should be result oriented and firstly we should determine what to negotiate. The framework of the negotiations should be determined. This can be a federation, confederation or two-states solution. We exclude none of these but especially if we will negotiate a federation, political equality of the Turkish Cypriot people, including rotating presidency, should be included in the negotiation framework document. We take steps to protect the rights of our people. Before, we were talking about these issues, condemning the Greek Cypriot side and sending seismic vessels but now we have sent our drilling vessels and changed the balances. From now on, we will continue our determination to protect the rights of the Turkish Cypriots”.