Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Monday it was important to take steps towards the recognition of the ‘TRNC’ during budget discussions at the Turkish parliament.
Cavusoglu called on the Turkish government and opposition “to work together to make the [TRNC] passport valid in more countries and open up more representations in cities around the world”.
“The embargoes imposed on the TRNC must be removed. The EU has not kept its word on this.”
Cavusoglu added that Ankara was not responsible for the collapse of the Cyprus negotiations in Crans-Montana in July and that they had concluded a solution would not be possible within the current parameters.
“There was no solution because the Greek Cypriots did not want to share government, power and the economy with the Turkish Cypriots,” he said.
“Right now, there are elections in the south and north, so there is no point in talking about this beforehand, we shouldn’t make this an election issue – it is a national policy.”
The foreign minister said they would sit down with the Turkish Cypriot authorities after the elections in January and discuss future steps to be taken.