Ertuğruloğlu: “New process can start on a state to state basis”

Foreign Minister Tahsin Ertuğruloğlu has stated that, since the official declaration by the UN Secretary General that Cyprus negotiation process came to a close without a conclusion in Switzerland earlier this month, a new page should be opened on the Cyprus talks on a state-to-state basis, based on equality.

Speaking on “The Newsmakers” on TRT World, Ertuğruloğlu said that the only wish of the Turkish Cypriot people is to continue their lives in equality, peace and security. Noting that one of the key reasons the Cyprus negotiations failed was because they were not conducted on the fundamental basis of equality, Ertuğruloğlu said that the only way to reach success in the new process is both sides sitting at the negotiating table as equals.

Ertuğruloğlu also criticized the UN and EU for taking the Greek Cypriot side into the European Union unilaterally and excluding the Turkish Cypriot people, calling it a “great injustice.” He added that the whole world, including the UN and EU, are well aware of the reality that there are two states in Cyprus.

“We never accepted the Greek Cypriots stalling the process due to their elections. However, while we are not ruling out a new form of negotiations, they must be conducted under new parameters, the most important of which is that they are on a “state-to-state” basis. Furthermore, following the failure of the talks and the situation that became clear in Switzerland, the unjust and intolerable embargoes imposed on the Turkish Cypriots must be lifted,” Minister Ertuğruloğlu concluded.