President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday called on the international community to immediately recognize the self-proclaimed Northern Cyprus and reject any deal that does not offer the Turkish Cypriots to create their own state, reports dailysabah.
"I repeat the historic appeal that I made to the whole world from the UN podium: to recognize Northern Cyprus as soon as possible," Erdogan said during the ceremony dedicated to the 49th anniversary of the occupation of Cyprus.
"Now everyone must understand that a federal decision is impossible," Erdogan said, adding that he was not opposed to new talks, but they could not resume without recognizing the "sovereign equality and equal international status" of Turkish Cypriots.
Thus, Erdogan has once again rejected the intention of the Greek Cypriots to create a federation from the Turkish and Greek-speaking zones of the island. Since the invasion of the island by Turkish troops in 1974, the region has been embroiled in a perennial dispute between Greek and Turkish Cypriots, despite several United Nations diplomatic efforts to resolve the issue comprehensively.
