Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus ("TRNC")

The self proclaimed "Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus," ( Turkish: Kuzey Kibris Türk Cumhuriyeti, KKTC) is only recognized by Turkiye and controls about one-third of the island's area and around a fifth of the population. Up to 30,000 mainland Turkish soldiers are based in the north. Following the 1974 hostilities, the Turkish Cypriots set up their own institutions in the area they administered with an elected "president" and a "prime minister" responsible to the "National Assembly" exercising joint executive powers. In 1983, the Turkish Cypriots declared an independent "Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus" ("TRNC"). The United States does not recognize the "TRNC," nor does any country other than Turkiye.

Cyprus, a large island in the eastern Mediterranean, has been a disputed territory between the Turkish and Greek Cypriots since the 1960s after the establishment of the Republic of Cyprus, a state that was meant to represent both ethnic groups in 1960. Following the establishment of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, it was aimed to develop historical and cultural ties in relations with Turkiye, as well as to establish official relations between the two states.

the Annan Plan initiated by late Kofi Annan, the former UN general secretary, to facilitate the entry of a united Cyprus into the EU in 2004. Despite being strongly supported by Turkiye, the initiative failed due to Greek Cypriot opposition. While Turkish Cypriots overwhelmingly voted for the plan, a large majority of Greek Cypriots rejected it. The Joint Declaration made on 11 February 2014 as a result of the agreement between the then President of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), Dr. Dervis Eroglu, and the Greek Cypriot Leader, Nicos Anastasiades, envisaged a bi-communal, bi-zonal federation with political equality and a ‘single’ sovereignty which emanates equally from Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots. According to the aforementioned joint communiqué, the federation to be established would be composed of two founding states of equal status and neither side could claim authority or jurisdiction over the other.

The 2nd Conference on Cyprus, which convened on 28 June 2017 in Crans-Montana, Switzerland, concluded after two weeks with no result. What ended inconclusively was not the Cyprus Conference alone, but rather the entire negotiation process under the current parameters.

Many Turkish Cypriots have been alienated by efforts of Turkiye’s ruling AK Party to impose religious schools and press the largely secular, liberal Turkish Cypriot community to become devout and adopt conservative social practices.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s called 14 November 2020 for a two-state solution for the divided island of Cyprus and vow for Turkiye to proceed drilling for hydrocarbons within the Eastern Mediterranean has sparked contemporary controversy and poured chilly water carried away chatter of a “reset” in Ankara’s relations with the West. Speaking on the 37th anniversary of the declaration of independence of the breakaway Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, acknowledged solely by Turkiye, Erdogan insisted {that a} two-state answer for the Mediterranean island wanted to be negotiated “on the basis of sovereign equality” as a result of there are “two separate peoples and states” on the island. Erdogan, who traveled to Northern Cyprus along with his casual coalition accomplice, far-right chief Devlet Bahceli, added that Turkiye would proceed drilling in contested waters round Cyprus and the Greek islands “until a fair settlement” was reached.