Ertuğruloğlu Accuses Opposition of Seeking to ‘Eliminate the State’

His comments came during the Republic Assembly’s General Debate on the Presidency’s budget, where discussions on the Cyprus issue once again sparked tensions between government and opposition benches.

Responding to CTP lawmakers, Ertuğruloğlu said they were “selling dreams” with their insistence on a federal settlement. Addressing MP Fikri Toros, the foreign minister argued that the vision presented by the opposition amounted to the “submission of the Turkish Cypriot people.”

Describing the federation model as a “deception,” Ertuğruloğlu claimed it would reduce Turkish Cypriots to a community under the dominance of Greek Cypriots. He added that the Foreign Ministry would continue to oppose President Tufan Erhürman’s four-pillar proposal.

Ertuğruloğlu also accused CTP MPs of promoting scenarios that could never be realised. He questioned how they defined the Cyprus problem and asked which political party in South Cyprus had ever openly rejected the Greek Cypriot leader’s positions.

“We do not understand why you insist on ignoring reality and presenting submission as a solution,” he said. “It was the Greek Cypriot side that overturned the negotiating table. Did they pay any price for it? No. Where do you expect to go with these fantasy scenarios?”

Reading and criticising several statements made by President Erhürman, Ertuğruloğlu said the two sides do not share the same perspective on the Cyprus issue and that the debate will continue for a long time.

He questioned how anyone could downplay their own state’s sovereignty and reiterated that a federation was not an option. Emphasizing that Turkey also has no federal settlement on its agenda, he argued that Greek Cypriots seek only an agreement that would place Turkish Cypriots under their control. “We will never accept this,” he said.

Ertuğruloğlu further claimed that the opposition was pursuing a policy “completely at odds with Turkey,” insisting that no one believed the contrary. “Your ultimate goal is to eliminate this state. That is the real issue,” he declared.

Calling the Cyprus issue a matter of status, the foreign minister criticised the opposition for years of accusing the government of not “speaking the language of the world.”

“We are the ones speaking the world’s language,” he said. “The language of the world is sovereignty. You are the ones who do not speak it.”

He also warned that a planned meeting between President Erhürman and EU Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn would be a “grave mistake,” urging that the idea be abandoned.