Ertuğruloğlu “No U-turn on two-state solution”

Foreign Minister Tahsin Ertuğruloğlu attended the 26th meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Economic Cooperation Organisation (ECO) in Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan.

TRNC is the observer member of the Economic Cooperation Organisation (ECO).

Foreign Minister Ertuğruloğlu met with the foreign ministers of Türkiye, Iran, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan during a meeting in Tashkent.

In his remarks during the meeting, FM Ertuğruloğlu thanked both the government of Uzbekistan for hosting such an important event and Khusrav Noziri, secretary general of ECO for organizing the event.

During the meeting FM Ertuğruloğlu shared the details of the TRNC’s new vision for a two-state solution in Cyprus, noting that “The Cyprus issue has been on the agenda of the international community for the last 60 years and the issue was misidentified. “The Cyprus issue is an issue of status,” FM stressed.

Noting that “The acknowledgment of realities on the island will allow the most needed stability, security and cooperation both in Cyprus and in the region,” Ertuğruloğlu said: “This cooperation should be on the basis of sovereign equality and equal international status of two sides.”

“Therefore, the Turkish Cypriot people demand the official recognition of the TRNC and reaffirmation of their vested rights, the sovereign equality and international status of the TRNC state” said Ertuğruloğlu, adding that: “Whether the Greek Cypriot side accepts it or not, there is no U-turn on the new path we have taken. The Greek Cypriots and the international community have to acknowledge the undeniable realities of the island; the existence of two separate sovereign states, two separate democracies and two separate people.”

Soruce (Turkish News Agency)