No initiative on Cyprus or the Eastern Mediterranean can succeed if it excludes Türkiye or disregards the rights of Turkish Cypriots, Vice President Cevdet Yılmaz said on July 20.
Speaking at a ceremony in Nicosia marking the 52nd anniversary of Türkiye’s 1974 Cyprus Peace Operation and Peace and Freedom Day, Yılmaz said Ankara would continue to stand by the Turkish Cypriot people.
“It must be understood that no initiative excluding Türkiye or disregarding the rights of Turkish Cypriots and our legitimate interests in the Eastern Mediterranean can succeed,” he said.
Türkiye, as the motherland and a guarantor power, would continue supporting Turkish Cypriots in living “freely, honorably and safely” under their own state, Yılmaz added.
He said the 1974 operation fulfilled Türkiye’s responsibilities under the 1960 Treaty of Guarantee and ended an 11-year period of violence and insecurity for Turkish Cypriots.
Yılmaz argued that decades of negotiations had failed because the Greek Cypriot side was unwilling to share governance and resources or recognize Turkish Cypriots as equal partners.
“The international community must now accept that Turkish Cypriots are as much the owners of this island as Greek Cypriots,” he said.
Reiterating Ankara’s support for a two-state settlement, Yılmaz said a lasting solution required recognition of the sovereign equality and equal international status of the two states.
Proposals that would reduce Turkish Cypriots to minority status and leave their future to the Greek Cypriot side could not produce a fair and sustainable settlement, he added.
Yılmaz also urged the international community to end what he described as the unjust isolation and embargoes imposed on Turkish Cypriots. Türkiye would continue supporting Turkish Cyprus’ economic development and international visibility, he said.
“Cyprus will never be a Greek Cypriot island,” Yılmaz said. “The Century of Türkiye will also be the century of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.”
Cyprus has remained divided despite repeated U.N.-led peace efforts. Türkiye launched its operation on July 20, 1974, five days after a coup backed by Greece’s military junta sought to unite the island with Greece.
The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus was declared in 1983. Greek Cypriot voters rejected a U.N.-backed reunification plan in 2004, while the latest formal peace talks collapsed in Switzerland in 2017.
