Erdogan says Turkic world would be ‘incomplete’ without northern Cyprus

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday said the Turkic world would be “incomplete” without northern Cyprus.

Addressing the day’s informal summit of the Organisation of Turkic States, which was held in Budapest, he stressed the importance of the connection between the global east and west through the Turkic world, through the “middle corridor” – a planned trade route connecting London, Istanbul, Baku, Aktau, and Beijing, among other major cities.

“We attach great importance to the cooperation within the OTS for the success of the middle corridor and expect the support of member states. The tragedies experienced in the past in Cyprus, Karabakh, Bosnia, and today in Gaza remind us that we need to think beyond our borders,” he said.

“Every opportunity we use to make our voices heard will correspond to the search for a fair global order, equitable sharing, and a law-based system which humanity needs.”

He went on to stress “the importance” of “increasing solidarity with the Turkish Cypriot people, who are an integral part of the Turkic world”.

“We expect the Turkic world to support the Turkish Cypriots’ struggle for rights, freedoms, and justice much more, without deviating from the path they know is right,” he said, while describing the OTS’ council of elders’ meeting in Kyrenia earlier this month as “very meaningful”.

“We believe that a Turkic world family photo without the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus will always be complete,” he added.

He then pointed out that the Turkic Academy’s four member states, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Turkey, accepted the north as an observer of the academy earlier in the day, describing the move as a “very important additional step”.

“I hope to see the days when we will accept the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus as a full member of our organisation in the not-so-distant future,” he said.

The Turkic Academy is an OTS-affiliated scientific research centre which was established in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan in 2010, with the stated aim of “becoming a unique centre which coordinates academic studies on the Turkic world by undertaking research on the language, culture, and history of the Turkic people”.

Earlier, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan had also spoken at the summit, stressing the importance of supporting Turkic peoples in various regions of the world.

“While taking steps in this direction, we must always remember that we are a part of a big Turkic world and act with this awareness. In line with this approach, we believe that it is our common responsibility to act in solidarity with our Turkish Cypriot brothers and sisters in the face of the inhumane isolation to which they have been subjected for decades,” he said.

No Turkish Cypriot was invited to Budapest, but Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar on Wednesday thanked Erdogan for his mentioning of Turkish Cypriots and the north in his address.

“I would like to express my most sincere gratitude to [Erdogan] for his speech … in which he resolutely defended the rights of the Turkish Cypriot people, as he always does,” he said.

The decision to not extend an invite to Tatar comes after OTS council of elders chairman and former Turkish prime minister Binali Yildirim had explained Hungary’s absence from the council of elders’ meeting in Kyrenia, despite frequently being a party to such meetings.

Yildirim had said Hungary was “concerned about the reaction of the European Union and its members, Greece, and the Greek Cypriot administration”.

In addition, last month, OTS members Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan, as well as observer Turkmenistan and non-Turkic Tajikistan, signed a joint declaration with the EU declaring that all five countries “reaffirmed our strong commitment” to United Nations security council resolutions 541 and 550.

Resolution 541 said the security council “deplores the declaration of the Turkish Cypriot authorities of the purported secession of part of the Republic of Cyprus” while calling on UN member states not to recognise the north.

Resolution 550 said it “reiterates the call upon all states not to recognise the purported state of the ‘Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus’, set up by secessionist acts, and calls upon them not to facilitate or in any way assist the aforesaid secessionist entity”.

Opposition political party CHP leader Ozgur Ozel had said the joint declaration’s signing was evidence of a “collapse” of Turkish foreign policy, and even claimed that the status of Cyprus was a key part of a deal brokered by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and United States President Donald Trump to allow the arrest of Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamoglu in March.