The TRNC Foreign Ministry has slammed the Greek Cypriot Archbishop Chrisostomos II for his latest remarks made during an interview with Kathimerini.

In a written statement, the foreign ministry said that the Greek Cypriot Archbishop’s racist and arrogant statement did not come as a surprise and was proof that the Greek Cypriot side’s intolerant mentality against Turkish presence on the island had not changed nor will it ever change.

It added that Chrisostomos’s remarks were also proof that the Greek Cypriot elites continue to see Turkish Cypriots as a minority.

“The Greek Cypriot Archbishop view that Turkish Cypriots cannot have equal rights as Greek Cypriot majority explains the reasons for the collapse of the 1960 partnership republic and why a solution cannot be reached in Cyprus. In addition attempts by the Greek Cypriot Archbishop to brainwash the Greek Cypriot community and to instil racism also reveals the level of prejudice and enmity towards the Turkish Cypriot people,” the statement read.

The foreign ministry called on the Greek Cypriot Archbishop, a religious leader, to stop giving out distorting information about Turkish Cypriots and separating people as ‘good’ and ‘bad’.

It added that the remarks revealed that Chrisostomos who sees Cyprus as a Greek island, was detached from the realities on the island.

“There are two states in Cyprus, a Turkish Cypriot state and a Greek Cypriot state. A new vision has been adopted in line with these realities. This new vision is fully supported by Turkey which is a guarantor state,” the statement read.

It concluded by stating that a settlement in Cyprus can only be possible by the acceptance of the realities on the ground, that is the two peoples of the island living separately in their respective states and collaborating on the basis of good neighbourly relations.