Turkish Cypriot leader rules out any talks without equal status

Northern Cyprus will not sit at any negotiating table unless their sovereignty and equal status is recognized, Turkish Cypriot President Ersin Tatar has told AFP.

This year marks the 50th anniversary since an Athens-backed coup aimed at uniting Cyprus with Greece triggered a Turkish military operation widely known as the Cyprus Peace Operation aimed at protecting Turkish Cypriots from persecution and violence that divided the island in 1974.

Only Ankara recognizes the statehood of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, which was proclaimed by Turkish Cypriot leaders in 1983.

"We are saying, after all these years, and all these fatal negotiations which proved nothing, we are only able to resume or to restart negotiations if our sovereign equality and equal international status is reaffirmed or acknowledged," Tatar said on the margins of an annual diplomacy gathering in Türkiye's Antalya on March 3. 

"Otherwise, we are not going to sit at the negotiating table again, because there is no point," he added.

For Tatar, the Greek Cyprus has walked away from negotiations after the collapse of every reunification attempt.

"Because in the past there have been many attempts where we sat again at the table, and at the end of the day the table collapsed - they walked out as the Republic of Cyprus and we just stayed as a community with no gain whatsoever," he said.

"And every time we sit [at talks] we lose something. That's how we feel," he said.

"So, unless we get our sovereignty right, the acknowledgement of our sovereignty, we are not going to get involved in any negotiations."

Tatar also ruled out any prospect of reunification for the divided island.

"There is no hope for reunification. We are talking...