Prime Minister Faiz Sucuoğlu also received the President of the Turkey-TRNC Inter-parliamentary Friendship Group Orhan Erdem and his accompanying delegation on Tuesday.

Speaking during the visit, the Premier touched upon the embargoes imposed on the TRNC.

Stating that the greatest advantage and privilege of the TRNC and the Turkish Cypriots is the unconditional support given by of Turkey, Sucuoğlu said “Turkey is always beside us in every condition. This gives us strength and further fuels our resolve.”

“We have grown and have become a 38 year old republic. Almost 50 years have passed since 1974 and economically we need to learn to stand on our own feet. We need to seriously concentrate on the economy” the Premier said.

Noting that 50 years were wasted for a federal solution, he said the two-state thesis put forward by Turkey and the TRNC together in recent times has broken the mould.

“We can openly express our views during our international contacts. Our President Ersin Tatar expresses his stance and views boldly and without hesitation since he was elected. Our motherland Turkey also shares the same view. The subject is two sovereign equal states. It will be good if the TRNC would be recognised in the future but if not this is not the end of the world. There are many countries which are not recognised but have strong economies and welfare levels. We should not be affected from non-recognition, on the contrary we should work harder and support ourselves economically” Sucuoğlu added.

Noting that problems were experienced in the higher education and tourisms sectors due to the pandemic, the Premier said they aimed to further develop the economy with new initiatives.