President Ersin Tatar’s Special Representative Ergün Olgun said on Thursday that it was unlikely a federal settlement in Cyprus would be viable and sustainable.

“We are inviting the Greek Cypriot side to the table to achieve this realistic and constructive goal based on the vested equal rights of the two sides in order to bring peace and stability to our region and island,” he said.

In a written statement issued on Thursday, President Ersin Tatar’s Special Representative Ergün Olgun said that attempts by the Greek Cypriot leader Nicos Anastasiades, after 50 years of unsuccessful negotiations, to present the Turkish Cypriot side’s vested equal rights as a “demand for political equality” and to claim that the implementation of political equality will create political inequality was proof that a federal settlement is unattainable and not sustainable.

Olgun said that Anastasiades’ view also demonstrated the kind of hegemonic goal the Greek Cypriot side was hoping to achieve with a federal settlement.

“The vested equal rights of both the Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot peoples are not a subject open to debate. During the island’s British Colonial Administration, twice, in 1956 and 1958, the British Prime Minister and Foreign Minister had stated that both communities had the right to self-determination. This fact was further confirmed with the 1960 Treaty of Establishment and the establishment of the 1960 Republic of Cyprus by two equal founding partners,” he said, adding that any other attempt to portray the Turkish Cypriot side’s vested equality as a demand was disrespectful and aimed at deceiving the international community as well as the Greek-Greek Cypriot people.

Olgun pointed out that the Greek Cypriots, after forcing out Turkish Cypriots from the partnership Republic in 1963, set up an administration that was solely controlled by them.

He added that currently the Greek Cypriot people showed no inclination or tendency to share power with Turkish Cypriots, nor such a dynamic exists within Greek Cypriot society.

“In light of these realities, the Turkish Cypriot side has set up its own independent and sovereign state,” the special representative said.

Olgun pointed out that political partnerships required the joint-decision making of all equal partners and sides as was the situation within the 1960 partnership state.

“However, the Greek Cypriots, which continue to see Cyprus as a Greek island and basing their argument that it is the larger community in terms of population, are trying to impose a mechanism based on majority rule, characteristic of unitary states and in the process in a futile move defining vested equal rights as inequality,” he said.

This obsession of superiority, Olgun added, made it highly unlikely for a federal settlement to be sustainable, in the event such an agreement is reached.

“This view was backed by a study carried out by King’s University College Professors Tözün Bahçeli and Sid Noel. Both argued that in cases where there are serious imbalances politically and economically, the risk of federal partnerships disintegrating was much higher,” he said.

Olgun said that Bahçeli and Noel also pointed out that the Cyprus Problem is multi-layered which makes the issue even more complicated thus lowering chances of a successful federal partnership.

“In light of the facts, it is highly unlikely to achieve a federal settlement in Cyprus and in the event such a solution is reached, its sustainability is doubtful. The Turkish Cypriot side thus has proposed a rational and pragmatic way out, a vision based on cooperation. This cooperation is based on the sovereign equality and equal international status of two states,” he stressed.