Statement of Minister of Foreign Affairs, H.E. Mr. Tahsin Ertuğruloğlu regarding the proposals about the energy resources in the Eastern Mediterranean

The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus is pursuing vigorously its policy on Cyprus, which is based on the acknowledgement of sovereign equality and equal international status of the TRNC with a view to addressing the question of status lying at the core of the Cyprus question and therefore enabling an acceptable agreement.
The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus is supporting the idea of transformation of the Eastern Mediterranean into an area of cooperation for the two Peoples on the island to be able to benefit mutually and equally from the energy resources in the Eastern Mediterranean. Therefore, the Turkish Cypriot side has tabled constructive proposals until today, paving the way to the equal share of hydrocarbon resources. I would like to reiterate that the comprehensive and constructive proposal of the Turkish Cypriot side of July 2019 as well as the proposal of H.E Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the President of the Republic of Turkey, which envisages convening of a regional energy conference with the participation of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, are both still on the table.
For their proposals to be acceptable, it is important for the foreign country officials, in particular those of United States of America, to recognize the new vision of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus in their statements or proposals regarding the transfer of energy resources in the Eastern Mediterranean especially to Europe. Otherwise, it should be born in mind that it will be unrealistic for these proposals to be successful if they contradict with the facts on the ground.
The time is ripe for the international community to comprehend the fact that policies of the two sides, namely the new vision of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus based on acknowledgement of its sovereign equality and the policy of the Greek Cypriot administration envisaging a unitary state, are different and that it re-formulates its approach concerning Cyprus in line with this reality.
This would be the good-intentioned and realistic approach to follow. We no longer want to squander time on now-defunct policies proven to fail. We are fed up with insidious scenarios aimed at portraying the Greek Cypriot side as the “State” and the Turkish Cypriots as “the community of that state” under the guise of an artificial agenda called Confidence Building Measures.