Turkish Cypriot ‘foreign minister’ Tahsin Ertugruloglu on Friday sharply criticised President Nikos Christodoulides’ meeting with newly appointed EU envoy for the Cyprus problem Raffaele Fitto.

Referring to what he described as the EU’s “insistence on intervening” in the Cyprus problem, Ertugruloglu condemned Fitto’s appointment, saying it had been made without the consent of the Turkish Cypriot side.

He said Fitto had “no legitimacy” in the eyes of the Turkish Cypriots.

“Therefore, any activity undertaken in our country in this capacity, or any attempt to interfere in a possible process, is unacceptable to our government and will not be considered in any way a legitimate interlocutor,” he said.

Ertugruloglu added that if the EU was “sincere” about contributing constructively to efforts to resolve the Cyprus problem, it should first fulfil its commitments to the Turkish Cypriots and take concrete steps to end what he described as their cultural, economic and political “isolations”.

He said, however, that he did not expect the EU to respond positively.

“[Today there are] two separate peoples, two separate states and two separate democratic authorities on the island,” he said, adding that “a lasting and sustainable agreement is only possible by accepting these realities, affirming the sovereign equality and equal international status of the sides, and establishing a cooperative relationship between the two states.”

Christodoulides and Fitto met earlier on Friday at the presidential palace, two days after UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres visited the island and met both leaders before announcing plans for a new enlarged meeting on the Cyprus problem.