The Council of Elders of the Organization of Turkic States (OTS) will hold its 17th meeting in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) on May 1-2, the body announced.
The move comes as harsh reactions were drawn by Turkish officials after some OTS members’ deal with the EU to recognize the Greek Cypriot administration.
Some member countries of the Organization of Turkic States announced at the summit they held with the EU on April 4 that they would abide by U.N. Security Council resolutions 541 and 550, which condemned the establishment of the TRNC and called on states not to recognize it, and decided to open embassies in the Greek Cypriot administration.
Last week, TRNC President Ersin Tatar said: “Turkic states should be a little more careful about their relations with the Greek side. They may have relations with the EU. The EU is a union, but it is not under the sovereignty of the Greeks, whose population is 800,000. Turkic states can also establish relations with the Greeks, but they should be careful because the game played by the Greek Cypriot administration is completely different.”
He said that the Turkic states should make the Greek Cypriots wait until the rights of the Turkish community are guaranteed.
The Mediterranean island was divided in 1974 after a Greek Cypriot coup aimed at Greece’s annexation of the island. This led to Türkiye’s military intervention as a guarantor power to protect Turkish Cypriots from persecution and violence. The TRNC was founded in 1983.
The Turkish side strictly adheres to a two-state solution based on sovereign equality, arguing that past efforts to reunify the island under a federal model have failed due to the Greek Cypriot administration’s reluctance to share power and resources.
The island has seen an on-and-off peace process in recent years, including a failed 2017 initiative in Crans-Montana, Switzerland, under the auspices of the guarantor countries.
The Greek Cypriot administration joined the EU in 2004, the same year that Greek Cypriots rejected a U.N. plan to resolve the dispute in a referendum.