President Ersin Tatar said on Monday that a new policy had been adopted following his election as president in October 2020.

He said this new policy entailed a political settlement on the island, one that is based on two states which have sovereign equality, co-existing side by side and cooperating in various areas.

Tatar said that he was sharing this position with all his interlocutors.

In an interview with the Anadolu News Agency, President Ersin Tatar reminded that the Turkish Cypriot side had presented its new two-state policy to the UN in the April of 2021 during the informal meeting held in Geneva.

Tatar said that the new model had been tabled after all efforts and goodwill exercised by the Turkish Cypriot side to reach a federal settlement in Cyprus had been exhausted and because the Greek Cypriot side had acted insincerely.

The president repeated his argument that the scrapping of the system of guarantees and the withdrawal of Turkish troops from the island would spell the end of the Turkish Cypriot people.

He said that the vested sovereign rights stemming from international agreements needed to be recognized in order for the Turkish Cypriot people to maintain their existence.

Tatar pointed out that the rejection of the 2004 UN-sponsored Annan Plan by the Greek Cypriot side had only made it harder to reach a federal settlement on the island.

“There needs to be a sovereign Turkish state in the north if an agreement is to be reached. We cannot maintain our policies, our national interests and goals without a sovereign Turkish state. That is why we needed to stand straight and remain determined. We have no choice but to continue to defend this policy, even if it means facing  opposition from the international community. We cannot maintain our existence without the support of the Republic of Türkiye,” he said.

President Tatar also repeated his views that the Greek Cypriot side’s confidence-building proposals regarding Ercan airport and Gazimağusa port were only a disguise to achieve its goal of extending its sovereignty over the north.

“It is out of the question for us to discuss these CBMs,” he said.

Tatar also announced that he was expected to meet with the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres either on September 24 or 25.

He highlighted the importance of informing and explaining to foreign representatives of the Turkish Cypriot side’s positions.

“We keep on telling the secretary-general that the current UN parameters are no longer valid, that they are outdated and that important changes have taken place both economically and politically. That we can only find a way out by reading these changes correctly and to insist on various points would be wrong. According to me, the book on a federal settlement is closed,” the president said.

Tatar also said that there was no point in a tripartite meeting with the Greek Cypriot leader Nicos Anastasiadis in New York because the Greek Cypriot leader was not running for re-election in the upcoming presidential elections in the south.

He added that the TRNC’s representation office and Ankara was working on arranging other meetings, some which would be held unannounced or behind closed doors.

“I have no intention of holding negotiations just for the sake of holding talks. We are waiting for our sovereign equality to be recognized in order for official negotiations to begin. This is our position and we have Ankara’s full support,” Tatar added.