Turkey has formally criticised the European Union's appointment of a new Special Representative for Cyprus, saying the b...

Turkey has formally criticised the European Union's appointment of a new Special Representative for Cyprus, saying the bloc gave up any claim to impartiality more than two decades ago. Foreign Ministry spokesman Öncü Keçeli issued a written statement saying the EU lost its neutrality on the Cyprus issue in 2004, when it admitted the Greek Cypriot administration as a member despite Greek Cypriots having rejected the UN Comprehensive Settlement Plan in a referendum that same year. Keçeli said that since then, the European Parliament and other EU institutions have continued to take what Ankara describes as increasingly one-sided positions on the issue. Turkey's statement came after the European Commission appointed Raffaele Fitto, its Executive Vice-President, as the new Special Representative for Cyprus. Fitto's mandate is to support UN-led efforts to build conditions for resuming settlement negotiations on the island. Ankara said it views the appointment itself as an internal EU matter, as it has with similar appointments in the past. But Keçeli made clear that Turkey expects the new envoy to work toward shifting what it called the EU's partisan stance. He reiterated Turkey's longstanding position that any lasting Cyprus settlement can only come through negotiations between two sovereignly equal states, based on what Ankara calls the realities on the ground, a framing that reflects Turkey's support for a two-state framework rather than a reunified federal solution. The Republic of Cyprus has been an EU member since 2004. Turkey does not recognise the Republic of Cyprus and maintains thousands of troops in the northern part of the island, which it has occupied since its 1974 military intervention. The UN has repeatedly called for a bizonal, bicommunal federation, a framework Turkey now openly rejects in favour of a two-state model. #Cyprus #Turkey #EU