Turkey Criticises EU's Cyprus Envoy Appointment, Says Bloc Has Lost Its Neutrality

In a written statement, Foreign Ministry spokesman Öncü Keçeli said Ankara considers the appointment of a new EU Special Representative for Cyprus to be an internal matter of the European Union, as it has viewed similar appointments in the past.

However, Keçeli said the EU forfeited its impartiality in 2004 by admitting the Greek Cypriot administration as a member despite its rejection of the UN Comprehensive Settlement Plan in the referendum held that year.

He also argued that the European Parliament and other EU institutions have continued to adopt what he described as increasingly one-sided positions on the Cyprus issue.

"We once again recall that the European Union lost its neutrality on the Cyprus issue when it accepted the Greek Cypriot side as a member despite its rejection of the UN Comprehensive Settlement Plan in 2004," Keçeli said.

According to the statement, Ankara expects the newly appointed EU official to work towards changing what it described as the bloc's partisan approach and to recognise that any lasting settlement on the island can only be achieved through negotiations between two sovereignly equal states based on the realities on the ground.

Keçeli maintained that a solution must reflect the existing realities in Cyprus and be founded on the principle of sovereign equality between the two sides, reiterating Turkey's longstanding support for a two-state framework.

The statement comes after the European Commission appointed Executive Vice-President Raffaele Fitto as its new Special Representative for Cyprus, with a mandate to support UN-led efforts to help create the conditions for the resumption of settlement negotiations.