UN's federation attempts on Cyprus are dead - ex-Turkish Cypriot foreign minister

Tahsin Ertuğruloğlu, the foreign minister of the breakaway Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), said UN attempts to reunify Cyprus as a federation are dead after a failed attempt in April to kickstart a fresh round of talks.

Equal international status for the TRNC is a must for the continuation of the negotiations, Ertuğruloğlu told Al Jazeera on Monday.

“There will not be negotiations so long as the Greek Cypriots are treated as if they are the Republic of Cyprus and so long as the Turkish Cypriots are treated as if we are nothing other than a mere community of that republic,” he said.

Numerous diplomatic efforts to reunify the Mediterranean island, ethnically divided since 1974, have failed.

In late April, representatives from the Republic of Cyprus and the TRNC, along with Turkey, Greece and the United Kingdom, the three guarantor powers of the island, met under the auspices of the United Nations to search for a common ground to begin formal negotiations.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres’ attempt failed after the Turkish Cypriot side, backed by Turkey, called for a two-state solution. The Greek Cypriot side and Greece insisted on a bizonal, bicommunal federation, citing UN resolutions on Cyprus.

In 1974, Turkey intervened militarily in Cyprus after a brief Greek Cypriot coup aimed at uniting the island with Greece.

Turkey justified the intervention by citing its rights to protect Turkish Cypriots. The island has remained divided between the internationally recognised Republic of Cyprus and the TRNC, which is only recognised as a state by Turkey.

Greek Cypriots have no reason to accept a federal settlement, because they are already accepted by the world as the Republic of Cyprus without Turkish Cypriots, Ertuğruloğlu said.

“As such, they are able to enjoy the benefits of recognition by themselves … Why should they ever accept anything less than that,” he said.

“We are very close,” a senior diplomat with deep knowledge of the UN talks told Al Jazeera on condition of anonymity. “All that the Turkish side is doing is evasive because they want to avoid the solution.”

Turkey is holding the Cyprus issue as a “hostage” for economic concessions at a summit of the European Council this month, he said.

“I think Turkish Cypriot President Ersin Tatar and Turkey just wanted to put forward this extreme position of recognition of TRNC a priori, and then accept to negotiate and hope that someone, whether it is the Americans or the UN or UK, will try and find the middle ground,” said Özdil Nami, former chief negotiator and foreign minister of the TRNC.

“They know very well that there is no country other than Turkey who is willing to recognise the TRNC as an independent sovereign state on the island,” he said.