We emphasize once again that a just, lasting and sustainable settlement to be reached in Cyprus must reflect the will of the two peoples on the Island and cannot be imposed by third parties.
We fully support the statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) concerning the UN Security Council’s press statement following the consultations during which Mr. Colin Stewart, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General and Head of the UN Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP), presented the UN Secretary-General’s recently published reports on the Good Offices Mission and UNFICYP.
We call on the UN Security Council and the international community to take into account the fact that there are two separate peoples and two separate states on the Island of Cyprus and to reaffirm the inherent rights of the Turkish Cypriot people, namely their sovereign equality and equal international status. We underline that this is an indispensable precondition for the start of any new negotiation process towards the settlement of the Cyprus issue.
Detached from the realities on the ground, the UN Security Council continues to insist on a settlement model from which the Turkish Cypriot side has openly withdrawn its support and which has been tried and has failed many times. All parties should realize that a federal settlement goal no longer reflects the sovereign will of the Turkish Cypriot people.
Instead of promoting a settlement in Cyprus, this Security Council stance, which is increasingly distant from the basis provided by the UN Secretary-General’s reports, is fueling the Greek Cypriot side’s intransigent attitude that disregards the Turkish Cypriots, the ancient and original co-owners of the Island. We expect the Security Council to comprehend the fact that the Turkish Cypriots have withdrawn their support from the settlement model discussed in the past.
