Turkey preparing to take recognition of north to UN General Assembly

Turkey is preparing to take the Cyprus issue to the UN General Assembly in order to remove the obstacles to recognition of the breakaway state in the north, Turkish newspaper Milliyet reported on Friday.

Even if it does not pass the Security Council, a resolution by the General Assembly would exert pressure in favour of recognising the ‘TRNC’, the paper said. It called it the ‘Jerusalem Formula’.

Turkey has made radical changes in recent years in its policy on the Cyprus issue, the paper said.

The framework of the strategy for recognising the pseudo-state was drawn up at the regular meeting of the National Security Council (NSC) in July stating: “Turkey will resolutely continue its multidimensional activities to defend the rights of the Turkish Cypriots and all countries were called upon to recognise the independence of the Turkish Cypriots.”

Former Ambassador Uluc Ozulker told Milliyet that “according to the UN Charter, the Security Council has decision-making authority. In addition, each of the five permanent members has veto power”.

“Even if you get a resolution from the UN General Assembly, the decision must also be taken by the UN Security Council. But it is possible to approach the matter from another angle. UN General Assembly resolutions create psychological pressure even if they do not pass the Security Council,” he added.

“A resolution from the UN General Assembly, even if it is a draft resolution, may encourage some countries…

But first we have to tell the UN Secretary General about our problem.”

The paper referred to it as the ‘Jerusalem Formula’. It does not attain anything necessarily but brings focus to an issue.

Turkey had in 2017 submitted to the United Nations General Assembly a draft resolution calling for the withdrawal of the recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel by then US President Donald Trump.

The resolution was previously defeated in the Security Council after a veto by the United States. The remaining 14 members of the Council had voted in favour.

The UN General Assembly passed a resolution calling on the United States to withdraw its decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

In total, 128 countries supported the resolution by voting “yes”, 9 voted against and 35 abstained from voting.