President Ersin Tatar on Tuesday reiterated that a solution in Cyprus can only be between two cooperating states based on sovereign equality.

Speaking at Ercan airport following his return from New York, Tatar repeated that Ankara fully supported the Turkish Cypriot side’s vision for a two-state solution.

He said that his contacts in New York had focused on promoting the Turkish Cypriot side’s views and position.

“We found the opportunity once again to explain our position. The Secretary-General himself who was in Crans Montana when the last round of talks collapsed is aware that a federal solution cannot be reached in Cyprus,” Tatar said.

The president added that his meetings with the UN Secretary-General were important in terms of maintaining equality between the two sides.

“No one should ignore the fact that there is a sovereign and independent state in North Cyprus. The Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan who addressed the UN General Assembly has been our voice and strength,” he said.

Tatar also said that the Secretary-General had said he would be supporting efforts to strengthen work carried out by the technical committees.

“The bicommunal technical committees operate on the basis of authority granted by the two states on the island. They operate through a bottom-up approach,” he stressed.

Reminding that the Secretary-General’s special envoy Jane Holl Lute had departed from her duties, Tatar said they supported the appointment of a new representative on the condition that he or she does not exceed the authorities granted to his/her predecessor.

“We told Guterres that we would not accept the appointment of a UN special envoy that operates outside the mandate granted to Lute,” he noted.

Tatar also said that he will be briefing the leaders of the political parties, the Council of Ministers and parliament in the coming days on his contacts in New York.

He added that no one should underestimate or undermine the efforts being carried out to promote the Turkish Cypriot side’s new vision.

“We’ve been stuck with the UN parameters for the past 60 years. The time has come to revise these parameters and the UN is aware of this, approaching the issue with a creative mindset,” Tatar said, adding that he believed the UN Secretary-General was good willed, understood the Turkish Cypriot side and acted accordingly.

President Ersin Tatar also said that Turkey was a powerful actor in the region and that things would have been very different if it was allowed to join the EU.