Hasipoğlu: Erhürman Has Drawn Us Into Open-Ended Federation Talks

In a written statement, Hasipoğlu evaluated the joint statement released following the meeting between President Tufan Erhürman, Greek Cypriot leader Nikos Christodoulides and the UN Secretary-General’s Personal Envoy for Cyprus, María Angela Holguín.

Hasipoğlu said the inclusion of the phrase “a solution based on political equality as set out in UN Security Council resolutions” demonstrated, despite the clear position of all institutions of the Republic of Turkey and a relevant decision of the TRNC Assembly, that President Erhürman was seeking to initiate negotiations based on a federal settlement. He described this as unacceptable.

He argued that the only realistic, viable and correct path to an agreement on behalf of the Turkish Cypriot people was for the Greek Cypriot side and its supporters to accept the reality of two sovereign states in Cyprus and act accordingly. Any steps taken outside this framework, he said, served to facilitate what he described as Greek Cypriot tactics and harmed the struggle to have the sovereign Turkish Cypriot state recognised internationally.

Emphasising the importance of status, Hasipoğlu said disregarding this issue would be a major mistake. He claimed that the Greek Cypriot leadership continued to refuse to view the Turkish Cypriot side as having equal status, instead using the comfort provided by the EU and the UN to pressure Turkey into accepting the Greek Cypriot side’s status and treating it as the sole state authority.

Referring to the most recent leaders’ meeting, Hasipoğlu said that while political equality was being discussed upstairs, no Greek Cypriot political party representatives attended a UN reception held downstairs at the same time because Turkish Cypriot political party representatives and other invitees from the TRNC were present. He described this as telling, arguing that even if equality was recognised on paper, the reality on the ground was that the Greek Cypriot side continued to ignore the Turkish Cypriots.

Hasipoğlu said the joint text issued after the Erhürman–Christodoulides–Holguín meeting marked the beginning of a process in which a federal framework had once again been brought to the table. He described the reference to a solution based on UN Security Council resolutions as reflecting an approach long imposed by the Greek Cypriot side, which he said aimed to reduce the Turkish Cypriot people to minority status.

He claimed that, as in the past, the Greek Cypriot administration had made no concessions, while the Turkish Cypriot side had been drawn back into UN parameters. According to Hasipoğlu, decades of experience had shown that it was not possible to achieve a result within the existing UN parameters and Security Council resolutions, which the two sides had interpreted differently for 40 years.

Hasipoğlu said the National Unity Party would oppose any concessions that could undermine sovereignty, statehood, equal status with the Greek Cypriot state, Turkey’s effective and active guarantees, or provisions on territory, property and EU-related matters that could cause socio-economic harm to Turkish Cypriots. He said the party would continue all forms of democratic struggle in this direction.

He added that the party would stand against any initiatives contrary to the will of the Turkish Cypriot people, state policies aligned with Turkey and decisions of the Assembly. A lasting solution, he said, could only be achieved by recognising the existence of two separate sovereign states and peoples on the island.

Hasipoğlu concluded by saying that President Erhürman should have first agreed on the timetable, status and procedures before moving on to substantive issues. He argued that with the joint statement reaffirming commitment to UN Security Council resolutions, the concept of “sovereign equality” had effectively been removed from the table, drawing the Turkish Cypriot side into an open-ended federation negotiation process.

“Contrary to his promises, the President has drawn us into open-ended federation talks,” Hasipoğlu said, adding that returning once again to discussions of the same issues and concepts would not produce a different outcome, and warning that the Turkish Cypriot people should not be trapped in an inconclusive negotiation process.