Bahçeli: The solution in Cyprus rests on two separate states

The leader of Turkey's Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), Devlet Bahçeli, declared that the existence of two separate peoples and two separate sovereign states in Cyprus is the basis of any just and lasting solution, in a message published on 15 November 2026 on the occasion of the 43rd anniversary of the founding of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, which marks its national day on 15 November.

Bahçeli said in the message: "The legitimate struggle of the Turkish Cypriot people will continue today as it did yesterday, with determination; and the existence of two separate peoples and two separate sovereign states in Cyprus will form the basis of a just and lasting solution."

He described the declaration of 15 November 1983 as the day on which the Turkish Cypriot people announced to the world their will to be the masters of their own destiny, and as a manifestation of a struggle shaped by many sacrifices and by a firm national will. He paid tribute to founding President Rauf Denktaş and Dr. Fazıl Küçük. He also paid tribute to the martyrs.

He added that the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus is the "most precious gain" of the Turkish Cypriot people and the guarantee of their national sovereignty, and that "keeping the Turkish Cypriot state alive, strengthening its sovereignty and attaining the standing it deserves internationally is a goal from which the national cause will not retreat."

The message contained no reference to resuming negotiations or to the federal solution formula, and was confined to the two-separate-states formula.