Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar has warned of “arrogant behaviour” that has brought the world to the brink of a third world war, while comparing what he called “South Cyprus” to Israel.

In a social media post published across Turkish Cypriot media, Tatar said the recent strikes by the US and Israel on Iran’s nuclear facilities highlighted “once again how unjust the world we live in is.”

He criticised what he described as an arrogant mindset of “what’s mine is mine, what’s yours is negotiable,” and claimed that this attitude has led the world to the edge of another global conflict. “Our expectation is for diplomacy to be implemented as soon as possible,” he said.

“No country, whether Western or Muslim, is above condemnation in a world where power defines justice,” Tatar wrote, adding that this is “most painfully seen” in the lives of Palestinians in Gaza.

Referring to the Cyprus issue, Tatar claimed that the Turkish Cypriots know well “that our southern neighbour is no different from Israel. We are faced with a ruthless mentality that sees us as a minority on this island, does not accept us as equals, and attempts to destroy us in our own homeland at the first opportunity, just like the Palestinians in Gaza.”

However, he said, “we as the Turkish Cypriot people are not doomed to follow scenarios written by others. We will continue on our path with our own will, unity, and determination. True peace and security can only come when we protect our own rights and self-determination. We will shape our future with our own hands and collective will, not based on the plans of others.”

Meanwhile, both Tatar and the Turkish Cypriot ‘prime minister’, Ünal Üstel, issued statements thanking Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan for his remarks supporting the north during a meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation in Istanbul.

They praised Fidan’s reference to the “inhuman isolation” faced by Turkish Cypriots for decades and his call for the Islamic world to establish direct contact with the Turkish Cypriot community as “highly important.”