Christodoulides accuses Erdogan’s Turkey of ‘new Ottoman approach’

President Nikos Christodoulides accused Turkey and its President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of taking a “new Ottoman approach” to its regional relations and described Erdogan as the “great obstacle” to solving the Cyprus problem. “We will continue to be following the solution of the Cyprus problem, and the great obstacle that we have is Mr Erdogan, that he is insisting on a two-state solution – a solution outside the UN framework – and I was there during his speech,” he told American news website Breitbart. He said that his presence at Erdogan’s address to the United Nations general assembly last month was “one of the few times that the Cypriot president is present when President Erdogan is speaking”. “It was hypocrisy to listen to Mr Erdogan talking about the UN charter and international law about refugees. He presented himself as the protector of all people [who] are facing occupation and problems and challenges,” he said. As such, he added, “I had to answer to him”. “I had to reply to him because … what we see, actually, not only with Cyprus, we see a new Ottoman approach from Turkey to present itself as a protector of the Arab world, of the Muslim world, which is not the case,” he said. He added that “even the Arab countries of the world … don’t see Turkey as a protector”, while stressing that “I don’t want to talk on behalf of them”. “On the contrary, Turkey is questioning international law. Turkey has issues with all neighbouring countries, and we have Mr Erdogan coming to New York and presenting himself as the UN secretary-general that will protect the humanity,” he said. Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Antonio Guterres in New York ‘Only Turkey is not participating in this regional alliance’ He said that the Republic of Cyprus has “a number of likeminded countries working together” in the region, before listing Greece, Israel, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, the United States, India, and the “greater Middle East”, which he said are “working together with the support of the United States”. “We are not working against any country, and the only country that is not participating in this regional alliance is Turkey. Turkey is not participating because of its behaviour, because of Mr Erdogan’s actions, because of what they are doing, not respecting the territorial integrity and the sovereignty of their neighbouring countries,” he said. Given this to be the case, “I couldn’t accept not to reply to Mr Erdogan and what he was saying”. Erdogan had said in his speech to the general assembly that he wished to “call upon the international community to recognise and establish political, diplomatic, and economic relations with the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus” and recognise the “sovereign equality and equal international status of the Turkish Cypriot people”. “The inhumane isolation to which [the Turkish Cypriots] have been subjected must finally come to an end”. In response, Christodoulides used his address to accuse Erdogan of “hypocrisy of the highest form”. “References to international law, to the respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all states, to illegal occupation, to the drama of refugees. Yet, in relation to Cyprus, Turkey is doing exactly the opposite. Hypocrisy of the highest form,” he said. Cyprus talks at an impasse He said that Erdogan had, during his own speech, “quoted extensively from the UN charter”, but stressed that “politicians are judged not by their words, but their deeds.” His reference to Erdogan as the “great obstacle” to progress on the Cyprus problem comes with the island’s two sides at something of an impasse following a failure to make progress during the week spent in New York for the general assembly last month. This lack of progress prompted UN Cyprus problem envoy Maria Angela Holguin to warn that “it is clear that the favourable window of opportunity we had throughout last year and earlier this year is gradually closing”. She also warned that “rising tensions in the Middle East and the eastern Mediterranean could have negative consequences for Cyprus”, and that “the diplomatic space which is allowing for the revival of dialogue may not remain open for ever”. On this front, she raised the issue of a letter sent by the Republic of Cyprus’ permanent mission at the UN requesting that foreign diplomats in New York not meet Turkish Cypriots, saying that such moves “absolutely” do not help efforts to create favourable conditions for negotiations to resume in earnest.