Turkey says will keep defending its own, Turkish Cypriots’ rights in Eastern Mediterranean

Ankara will maintain its determined stance with ‘same belief, will,’ says Vice President Fuat Oktay

Turkey reiterated on Thursday that it will continue defending rights of both its own and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) in the Eastern Mediterranean.

“In the Eastern Mediterranean, Turkey has demonstrated its determination to protect both its own rights on its continental shelf and the legitimate rights and interests of the TRNC. This determination will be maintained with the same belief and will,” Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay said in a joint news conference in the capital Ankara alongside Faiz Sucuoglu, Turkish Cypriot prime minister.

Oktay said those who try to test Ankara’s determination on the ground or at the table should know that they will continue to face Turkey and the TRNC.

Turkey and the TRNC signed an agreement on economic and financial cooperation before the news conference. Oktay said Turkey is helping Northern Cyprus get closer to its development goals.

The agreement, he said, is focused on four areas: public administration and public finance policies; economic and financial policies; social policies; and defense, security and justice.

– Decades-long dispute

Cyprus has been mired in a decades-long dispute between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, despite a series of diplomatic efforts by the UN to achieve a comprehensive settlement.

Ethnic attacks starting in the early 1960s forced Turkish Cypriots to withdraw into enclaves for their safety.

In 1974, a Greek Cypriot coup aimed at Greece’s annexation of the island led to Turkey’s military intervention as a guarantor power to protect Turkish Cypriots from persecution and violence. As a result, the TRNC was founded in 1983.

It has seen an on-and-off peace process in recent years, including a failed 2017 initiative in Switzerland under the auspices of guarantor countries Turkey, Greece and the UK.

The Greek Cypriot administration entered the European Union in 2004, the same year Greek Cypriots thwarted a UN plan to end the longstanding dispute.

Turkey, which has the longest continental coastline in the Eastern Mediterranean, has rejected maritime boundary claims by Greece and the Greek Cypriot administration, stressing that their excessive claims violate the sovereign rights of Turkey and the Turkish Cypriots.