Ozgur Ozel, the leader of Turkey’s largest opposition political party the CHP, on Saturday decried the “bankruptcy” of the country’s foreign policy in the wake of the signing of a joint declaration by five central Asian states and the European Union which ruled out the prospect of any of them recognising the north as an independent country.

Four of those states, Kazakhstan, Kyrgzstan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, have majority Turkic populations, and are members of the Organisation of Turkic States (OTS), and it was this point which was the object of Ozel’s focus.

“EU countries and Turkic republics came together in Samarkand, they recognised southern Cyprus and rejected the existence of northern Cyprus. Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan opening embassies in southern Cyprus is the bankruptcy of the Republic of Turkey’s foreign policy,” he told a rally in the town of Yozgat.

“I am clearly stating that the government’s foreign policy … has gone bankrupt in the period we are in. I ask, how did you bring things to this point? You established the OTS, so how come those we have been waiting on for years to recognise the TRNC now recognise southern Cyprus? We will never remain silent in the face of this great disaster.”

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He then accused the country’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of “bargaining” to “give up our rights in the Aegean and give up Cyprus and Palestine”.

“What are you doing with Trump to unfairly sell out this country’s interests? Shame on you,” he added.

The joint declaration was signed in the Uzbek city of Samarkand earlier this month said all five countries “reaffirmed our strong commitment” to United Nations security council resolutions 541 and 550.

Resolution 541 said the security council “deplores the declaration of the Turkish Cypriot authorities of the purported secession of part of the Republic of Cyprus” while calling on UN member states not to recognise the north.

Resolution 550 said it “reiterates the call upon all states not to recognise the purported state of the ‘Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus’, set up by secessionist acts, and calls upon them not to facilitate or in any way assist the aforesaid secessionist entity”.

The news has generated a fierce backlash across Turkey’s opposition, with Ankara mayor Mansur Yavas, also of the CHP, decrying the country’s government’s “silence” over the matter and saying it  “created an image of weakness in our foreign policy”.

Meanwhile, Muharrem Ince, opposition political party the CHP’s presidential candidate in 2018, also moved to criticise the country’s government in the wake of the development.

“During the AK Party government’s time in office, Turkey could not prevent the Greek Cypriot state from becoming a member of the EU, could not ensure that Turkic republics recognise the TRNC, and could not stop Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan from accepting a decision in the agreement signed with the EU that the Republic of Turkey is an occupier in Cyprus,” he said.

He added, “the AK Party government, which has been in power for 23 years, is a complete fiasco in foreign policy as well as in agriculture, education, and the economy”.

Last week, Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar had called on central Asian Turkic states to “be more careful”, amid a wave of anger in Turkey in the wake of the joint declaration’s signing.

He had added that it was possible that the signatories had “overlooked” the rticles of the joint declaration which precluded recognition of the north, and added, “do they know where the outcome of these articles will lead and what consequences they will have, and for whom?”