Türkiye has described the European Commission’s decision to appoint a special envoy for Cyprus as an internal EU matter, while criticizing the bloc’s approach to the island.
“We regard the European Commission’s decision to once again appoint a ‘Cyprus special envoy,’ as in the case of similar appointments in the past, as an internal matter of the European Union,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Öncü Keçeli said in a statement on X.
Keçeli said Türkiye maintains that the EU lost its neutrality on the Cyprus issue in 2004, when it admitted the Greek Cypriot administration as a member despite its rejection of a U.N.-backed comprehensive settlement plan.
He said EU institutions, particularly the European Parliament, have continued to take what Ankara sees as a biased approach toward the Cyprus issue.
Türkiye expects the newly appointed European Commission official to work to change the EU’s stance, Keçeli said.
He added that a settlement could only be reached through negotiations between “two sovereign and equal states” based on the realities on the island.
Cyprus has been divided for decades despite repeated diplomatic efforts led by the United Nations.
Ethnic attacks starting in the early 1960s forced Turkish Cypriots to withdraw into enclaves for their safety.
In 1974, a Greek Cypriot coup aimed at Greece’s annexation of the island led to Türkiye’s military intervention as a guarantor power to protect Turkish Cypriots from persecution and violence. As a result, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus was founded in 1983.
It has seen an on-and-off peace process in recent years, including a failed 2017 initiative in Switzerland under the auspices of guarantor countries Türkiye, Greece, and the U.K.
The Greek Cypriot Administration entered the European Union in 2004, the same year that Greek Cypriots single-handedly blocked a U.N. plan to end the longstanding dispute.
