Foreign Ministry to Christodoulides: “We Return Your Disrespectful Remarks Targeting Erdoğan”

In a written statement, the Foreign Ministry said Christodoulides had “as usual distorted the facts” concerning the Cyprus issue and made “baseless accusations” against Turkey.

“As the Foreign Ministry of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), we strongly condemn and denounce the fact that Greek Cypriot leader Nikos Christodoulides, in his speech at the 81st UN General Assembly, has once again distorted the facts concerning the Cyprus issue and made baseless accusations against Turkey,” the statement said.

The ministry claimed that Christodoulides had ignored the persecution, forced displacement and serious human rights violations suffered by Turkish Cypriots between 1963 and 1974, arguing that the Greek Cypriot leader was continuing what it described as a “tradition of manipulating the international community and world public opinion with lies.”

The statement argued that the forcible removal of Turkish Cypriots from the 1960 partnership state, in which they were equal partners, formed the basis of the Cyprus problem.

“The fact that this mentality, which disregards the will of the Turkish Cypriot people and the historical realities on the island, speaks of international law and the UN Charter is proof that the situation facing the Greek Cypriot leadership has reached incomprehensible proportions,” it said.

RESPONSE TO REMARKS TARGETING ERDOĞAN

The statement also criticized Christodoulides’ remarks targeting Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

“We return in kind to the Greek Cypriot leader the insolent and disrespectful remarks targeting the President of the Republic of Turkey, Mr Recep Tayyip Erdoğan,” the ministry said.

It claimed that Christodoulides’ language demonstrated how the Greek Cypriot administration’s “ambitions can lead to a loss of reason.”

“No matter what the Greek Cypriot leader says, it will not change the fact that there are two separate peoples and two separate states on the island of Cyprus,” the statement added.

FOREIGN MINISTRY CRITICIZES FEDERAL MODEL AS “HYPOCRISY”

The ministry also criticized Christodoulides’ call to return to the federal model, which it said had been negotiated for more than half a century but had failed to produce results due to what it described as the Greek Cypriot side’s “intransigent and maximalist position” and its refusal to accept the equal status of the TRNC.

The ministry argued that the call “clearly reveals the intention to continue benefiting from the unjust position enjoyed by the so-called ‘Republic of Cyprus’ thanks to the current status quo on the island, while increasing pressure and restrictions on the Turkish Cypriot people.”

“Under these circumstances, the real hypocrisy is insisting on the ‘federal’ model, which has clearly failed to produce results in the past and has been repeatedly rejected by the Greek Cypriot side,” the statement said.

The Foreign Ministry also reiterated its position on what it described as the fundamental realities of the Cyprus issue.

“The most fundamental fact that needs to be known about the Cyprus issue is the existence of two separate peoples and two separate independent and sovereign states living side by side on the island,” it said.

The ministry argued that a lasting agreement could only be reached if the international community recognizes the TRNC’s “sovereign equality and equal international status.”

It noted that President Erdoğan had expressed the same position on various occasions, most recently in his address to the UN General Assembly on September 23, 2026.

“Policies pursued by disregarding Turkish Cypriots will continue to be doomed to failure, as they have been in the past,” the statement concluded.