Turkish Foreign Ministry Condemns Decision of Southern European States on Cyprus

ANKARA (Sputnik) - Turkey considers the provisions of the Athens Declaration on Cyprus conflict settlement adopted at the EUMed 9 summit to be biased and short-sighted, Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesperson Tanju Bilgic said on 18 September.

The EUMed 9 summit was attended by the heads of state and government of France, Greece, Spain, Italy, Croatia, Cyprus, Malta, Portugal and Slovenia on 17 September. The summit declaration reaffirmed members' commitment to the peaceful settlement of the Cyprus conflict on the basis of a bicommunal, bizonal federation with the political equality under UN Security Council resolutions. The declaration ruled out the possibility of any solution based on the coexistence of two states.

"The paragraphs concerning the Eastern Mediterranean, Cyprus and irregular migration of the joint declaration adopted at the end of the Summit held with the participation of the nine members of the EU ... in Athens on 17 September 2021, are biased, lacking vision and disconnected from reality as this was the case in previous years," Bilgic said in an official statement.

Cyprus has been de facto divided between the Greek and Turkish communities since 1974, when Turkey deployed armed forces to Cyprus after an attempt to unify Cyprus with Greece. Thirty-seven percent of the island's territory was occupied. In 1983, the self-proclaimed Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus was formed, recognised solely by Turkey.

The United Nations attempted to mediate reunification talks between the Greek and Turkish communities, but the negotiation reached an impasse in 2017.

Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar has been advocating a confederal structure of Cyprus, while the Greek Cypriots believe that a solution to the Cyprus problem is possible only on the basis of UN decisions within the framework of a bizonal, bicommunal federation.