Turkish Cypriot Foreign Minister Tahsin Ertuğruloğlu said Wednesday that Türkiye's military presence on the island and its guarantor status remain a "red line" for the Turkish Cypriot people, arguing they are essential for security, regional stability and the balance of power in the Eastern Mediterranean.
In a written statement carried by the Turkish New Agency-Cyprus (TAK), Ertuğruloğlu rejected renewed calls for a federal settlement to the decades-old Cyprus dispute, saying past negotiations had repeatedly demonstrated that such efforts were no longer viable.
"The reality on the island is the existence of two sovereign states living side by side," he said, arguing that attempts to hold the Turkish Cypriot community responsible for the lack of a settlement through international isolation were unjustified.
Ertuğruloğlu said Türkiye's "effective and de facto guarantee" and the continued presence of Turkish troops on the island were indispensable to the security of Turkish Cypriots. He also described Türkiye's role as the strongest guarantee of the strategic balance between Türkiye and Greece in the Eastern Mediterranean and of broader regional stability.
The minister criticized Greek Cypriot positions during previous rounds of U.N.-backed peace negotiations, saying their insistence on governing the island alone, treating Turkish Cypriots as a minority and demanding "zero troops, zero guarantees" had rendered federation-based solutions obsolete.
