President Ersin Tatar has said that efforts to promote the recognition of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus were continuing. 

He said that he aimed to inform different countries on the Turkish Cypriot side’s two-state solution model in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly set to take place later this month.

Speaking to the Anadolu News Agency, Tatar said that Turkey was displaying a determined stance against Greece’s expansionist policies in the Eastern Mediterranean, particularly in terms of extending its continental shelf. 

“Such efforts are futile and unacceptable,” said President Ersin Tatar.

 ​Regarding a settlement in Cyprus, Tatar said that chances of a federal partnership were no longer possible and that a two-state solution was the only feasible option on the island.

“A partnership (in the federal sense) is no longer possible. We must focus on cooperation between two states existing side-by-side,” he said. 

Tatar warned that a federal settlement with EU membership would spell the end of Turkish Cypriots, reducing them to a minority under Greek Cypriot rule and breaking off ties with Turkey. 

“Then we will see our rights in the Eastern Mediterranean stripped from us,” he said.

On the issue of the withdrawal of textbooks in Greek Cypriot schools that include a section on Atatürk, Tatar said this was an unacceptable move which they will protest at every level.