NICOSIA – Turkish-Cypriots occupying the northern third of the island will never give up Turkey as a guarantor of security and insist that the world recognize their territory as a separate state.

That was the word from hardline Turkish-Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar who told the Turkish Agency Cyprus (TAK) that he will never allow Cyprus to stay dominated by the Greek-Cypriot side that’s a member of the European Union.

He said Cyprus will not be an Hellenic island and rejected a call by Ioannis Papameletiou, Greece’s Ambassador, to give up Turkey as a guarantor and for a 35,000-strong Turkish army to be removed.

“We have been and will continue to pursue our policy so that there can be an environment and an agreement on the basis of equality, where the Turkish presence continues until the end, where peace, tranquility and security can be best preserved with Turkey’s guarantor,” he said.

Since he took power, Tatar has dismissed any idea of reunification that had been sought for decades after Turkey seized and occupied part of the island during unlawful 1974 invasions.

He instead demands that the United Nations and world accept the occupied land as a self-declared Republic that no other country apart from Turkey does, and has moved to further open the abandoned resort of Varosha.

With Turkey drilling in Cyprus’ Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) in defiance of soft EU sanctions, he said that oil and gas finds will be critical as the bloc tries to wean off Russian energy after its invasion of Ukraine.