Parliament Speaker Numan Kurtulmuş said on Oct. 16 that no settlement in Cyprus could be reached by ignoring Turkish Cypriots, rejecting remarks by his Greek Cypriot counterpart at a conference in Rome.
Kurtulmuş was responding to Annita Demetriou, speaker of the Greek Cypriot House of Representatives, at the European Conference of Presidents of Parliament, hosted by Italy’s Chamber of Deputies.
“There can be no solution in Cyprus by ignoring the Turkish side. Turkish Cypriots will continue to live on the island as equal citizens until the end of time,” he said.
Kurtulmuş said the 1960 settlement had established a state based on partnership between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, with Britain, Türkiye and Greece as guarantors.
He blamed pro-Enosis forces, which sought the island’s union with Greece, for the breakdown of the power-sharing administration in 1963.
Kurtulmuş said Türkiye had spent the following 11 years pursuing a peaceful solution through diplomacy, but massacres of Turkish Cypriots had compelled it to intervene. He said women, children and young people had been killed in attacks on villages before the intervention.
Defending the 1974 Cyprus Peace Operation, Kurtulmuş said Türkiye had acted under its responsibilities as a guarantor to protect Turkish Cypriots. He said the operation had created conditions for both communities to live in peace.
