The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) on Tuesday slammed a new hydrocarbon deal between the Greek Cypriot Administration and Egypt.
Citing deals and pacts signed during Monday’s visit to Cairo by Nikos Christodoulides, the administration’s leader, the TRNC Foreign Ministry emphasized that any deal that is not approved by the Turkish Cypriots is null and void.
The ministry also urged Christodoulides to abandon his endeavors that risk bringing the entire region to the verge of a conflict.
The ministry added that the international community should realize that the Greek Cypriot Administration is pursuing an irreconcilable and provocative approach and hence should acknowledge the existence of two separate states on the island for a lasting resolution.
– DECADES-LONG DISPUTE
Cyprus has been mired in a decades-long dispute between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots despite a series of diplomatic efforts by the UN to achieve a comprehensive settlement.
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 TRNC 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 UK.
The Greek Cypriot Administration entered the EU in 2004, the same year that Greek Cypriots single-handedly blocked a UN plan to end the longstanding dispute.