Foreign Minister Tahsin Ertuğruloğlu has said that the Turkish Cypriot people were waging a struggle to exist on the island and to prevent Cyprus from becoming a Hellenic Island.

He said that the Turkish Cypriots had no aspirations to control the island but sought co-existence with Greek Cypriots based on mutual respect.

“However, the Greek Cypriots do not share our vision,” Ertuğruloğlu said in an interview with a Washington-based media organization.

The TRNC Foreign Minister who gave a brief background on the Cyprus Issue pointed out that the 1960 partnership Republic had collapsed just three years after its establishment when the Greek Cypriots, with aspirations to gain control over the state, ejected Turkish Cypriots from the state apparatus through the force of arms.

He said that since then, the two peoples on the island have remained separated.

Ertuğruloğlu said that today Turkish Cypriots live in freedom under the protection and security of their own state, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus while the Greek Cypriots continue to live in the so-called Republic of Cyprus which is internationally recognized.

“This situation is contrary to the international agreements which established the partnership 1960 Republic and its constitutionality which stated that neither side could have the right to claim the state if the partnership broke down. Unfortunately, the big powers, the US, UK, Russia, France, and China or the permanent members of the UN Security Council, for their own interests chose to discriminate against Turkish Cypriots and allowed Greek Cypriots to represent the Republic of Cyprus by themselves,” he said.

The TRNC Foreign Minister complained that the Greek Cypriots were falsely portraying the Turkish Cypriots as a secessionist ethnic minority.

“This is the essence of the Cyprus Problem”, he said, adding that the Turkish Cypriot people were waging a struggle to explain its just cause to the rest of the world.

Responding to a question on the importance of membership to the OIC, Ertuğruoğlu said that the TRNC was currently an observer member and that it was only logical for Turkish Cypriots, who unlike the Greek Cypriots are Muslims, to be part of the organization.

“It gives us exposure to the international platform, it gives us the opportunity to explain to the OIC, the Greek Cypriot side’s inhuman treatment and embargoes imposed on the Turkish Cypriot people. There are embargoes imposed in all areas, including sports, because we see Greek Cypriot officials, under the false pretext of representing the island, obstructing our effective participation at all international platforms. That’s why it’s important to reach out anywhere we can,” he said.

Asked to evaluate his contacts in the US, Ertuğruoğlu explained that the TRNC president and Foreign Minister traveled annually to New York and Washington D.C. to follow the sessions of the UN General Assembly as well as hold contacts with US officials.

“We meet with officials from the state department, the press, and various associations and hold panels or meetings with think tanks. This is a yearly activity. Why do we do this? We meet state department officials, we challenge them as to the wrongness of the US’s policies towards the Cyprus Problem. Giving them all sorts of examples as to where they are going wrong,” he said.  Criticizing the US for spoiling Greece and Greek Cypriots, Ertuğruloğlu said that it was not only the US but the western world which emboldened and tolerated Greece’s and the Greek Cypriot’s spoilt actions.

“The western world does this as well. Greece and the Greek Cypriots are the spoilt brats of the western world,” he said, accusing the Greeks of being racist and discriminatory

He said that the only thing the Turkish Cypriots were doing was trying to prevent the Greek Cypriots from dominating them.

“We are not threatening anyone, we are trying to prevent Greek Cypriots from dominating us. Cyprus was Ottoman territory for 300 years. We are not saying that Cyprus should be Turkish altogether and that we should rule the Greeks. Contrary to that we are saying that Cyprus is the common homeland of both Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots and that we should learn to co-exist on the same island, respecting each other’s rights and status without trying to dominate the other. We wish the Greek Cypriots were mature enough to have the same vision towards us. But nothing we have seen no such inclination,” he said.

Ertuğruoğlu also said that the Greek Cypriots were obsessed with transforming Cyprus into a Greek island and had no tolerance for Turks, the Turkish Cypriots, or Türkiye.

“Their whole obsession is to turn Cyprus into a Greek island and to oust the Turkish Cypriot population from there. They are against Turks. We are the same nation. They believe that Cyprus is a Hellenic Island in which Turkish Cypriots are not their equals and that they should dominate the Turkish Cypriots. And they hate Türkiye because it the only country which is preventing them from achieving their goals,” he added.

Ertuğruloğlu also criticized the EU for its stance on the Cyprus Issue. He said that the bloc had violated its own principles and values by allowing the Greek Cypriots to join the bloc before a settlement was reached on the island.

Reminding that Greece had threatened to veto the EU’s enlargement move if South Cyprus had not been allowed to join the bloc, Ertuğruloğlu pointed out that South Cyprus was allowed to participate despite failing to meet the Copenhagen criteria.

He said that the politically motivated membership of South Cyprus had destroyed all trust and confidence Turkish Cypriots had in the EU, proving to them that the bloc was not trustworthy or reliable.

Ertruğruoğlu said that the Turkish Cypriots will continue their struggle with the support of the motherland Türkiye.