The truth that British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer didn’t go to the north throughout his journey to Cyprus final week is an efficient factor, the north’s ‘overseas minister’ Tahsin Ertugruloglu stated.
Chatting with Turkish tv channel NTV, he stated Starmer’s non-visit is “not a topic of grievance for me”.
“I’m saying it’s a good factor that it didn’t occur,” he added.
To this finish, he stated the truth that Starmer solely visited the Republic “solid a shadow over the place of the UK, a guarantor energy” of Cyprus.
“The UK by no means fulfilled its obligation as a guarantor, and it was the UK which opened the door to the Greek Cypriots below the title of the Republic of Cyprus. The UK has an obligation to deal with either side in Cyprus equally, and Starmer also needs to hearken to the Turkish Cypriot facet’s perspective,” he stated.
Starmer visited Cyprus final week, turning into the primary British prime minister since Ted Heath in 1971 to go to the Republic whereas in workplace to satisfy the president, with most British prime ministers within the intervening interval having in some unspecified time in the future visited the nation’s bases on the island.
President Nikos Christodoulides described the go to as “historic”, and stated it was “clear proof of our robust will to work collectively, to reinforce our bilateral relationship in defence, safety, investments, commerce, training, expertise and on all ranges”.
Ertugruloglu’s feedback about Starmer’s go to to the island come as Cyprus’ two main communities’ leaderships appear to search out themselves in disagreement over whether or not a delegation from the UK will attend a deliberate “enlarged assembly” over the Cyprus drawback within the early a part of subsequent yr.
New British excessive commissioner in Nicosia Michael Tatham had on Sunday urged that the nation can be current at such a gathering, saying the UK “takes its function as a guarantor energy very significantly” and “desires to contribute as constructively as potential to the method”.
He added that his nation “absolutely helps the agreed proposal for an answer throughout the framework of a bizonal, bicommunal federation with political equality”.
Turkish Cypriot chief Ersin Tatar, nonetheless, has come out in opposition to the thought of British involvement in such a gathering.
He had gone on the document earlier than the casual dinner in October as having stated that based mostly on the shortage of widespread floor discovered between Cyprus’ two sides, “an atmosphere may very well be created for a 4+1 casual session.”
It was reported a month in the past that “all events” had given their consent for such a gathering to be held, with a “transient dialogue” having reportedly been held between United Nations Secretary-Normal Antonio Guterres and Christodoulides on the sidelines of the Cop29 local weather assembly within the Azeri capital Baku, by which Guterres knowledgeable Christodoulides of progress.
Plans for such a gathering had been afoot since Christodoulides met Tatar at an off-the-cuff dinner in New York in October, with reviews suggesting that UN under-secretary-general for peacebuilding Rosemary DiCarlo will go to the island quickly.
