We welcomed them with 'Ceddin Dede', but what is the result?!

It has been almost a week; the government is still explaining the meaning and importance of holding the NATO Summit in Ankara.

MHP Leader Devlet Bahçeli, the government's partner who remained completely silent throughout the summit, finally made the following assessments yesterday:

“Turkey has become one of the founding actors of the new era, not only with its geostrategic position in NATO, but also with its historical background, state experience, political will, and national power. The political and strategic level reached by the Republic of Turkey was once again manifested at the Ankara Summit. Today, NATO is at the dawn of a new era.”

Bahçeli, based on the understanding of our country's importance thanks to this summit, explained that it is a condition for the EU to put our negotiation process back on the agenda, and that Turkey-EU relations cannot be left to the calculations of Athens or third countries, saying, “Turkey is not an option for Europe, it is the safety rope extended into the well it has fallen into!”

As is known, one of the primary reasons for the EU freezing negotiations with Turkey is the handover of the entirety of Cyprus—which they characterize as a "problem"—to the Greek Cypriot side, and the failure to meet their demands.

And one of the less discussed reflections of that NATO Summit, which was presented as a “success,” was Cyprus.

USA-EU-NATO-UN Arm in Arm

Let us recount what happened before, during, and after the summit in order.

We remember the following words of Tom Barrack, the colonial governor sent to our region by Trump, who attended the NATO meeting for Erdoğan's sake, 8-9 months ago, right?

“President Trump has completely changed the chessboard everywhere. Turkey and Israel will not fight. This will not happen, and you will see cooperation from the Caspian Sea to the Mediterranean.”

“A new order and new cooperation are necessary in the Eastern Mediterranean. We hope America will be a bridge in this, and that is our goal. It is impossible for an abscess to form in the center of a healthy body, and every part of the body needs to heal. We hope that Cyprus, which is a critical part of this, will also be included in the solution.”

About a month before the summit, we saw that US Energy Secretary Chris Wright met with representatives from Greece, the Greek Cypriot Administration, and Israel to establish the “Eastern Mediterranean Energy Center” in a 3+1 format to seize energy resources in the region and, concurrently, to “combat malicious actors in the region.”

Other developments centered on Cyprus were as follows:

While Trump ensured Kazakhstan's participation in the Abraham Accords, the EU, through the personal efforts of Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, ensured that Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, and Tajikistan recognized the Greek Cypriot side and called Turkey an “occupier” in exchange for 12 billion Euros in aid. Ankara did not even make a peep.

Again, while the EU excluded Turkey from the new 150 billion Euro defense credit (SAFE) with a Greek-Greek Cypriot veto, it allocated 1.2 billion Euros in resources to the Greek Cypriot side and delivered the first tranche of this, 177.2 million Euros, 18 days before the NATO Summit.

Likewise, a host of countries such as Israel, the USA, and France armed the Greek Cypriot side. Our Minister of Defense, Yaşar Güler, merely reminded everyone of the guarantee agreement after the NATO Defense Ministers meeting in Brussels before the Summit, saying, “Turkey is a party to peace, stability, and constructive dialogue in the Eastern Mediterranean. However, our will to fulfill the requirements of our guarantee responsibilities in the face of developments that will threaten the security of the TRNC is complete.”

Meanwhile, the new Cyprus plan draft of the UN Secretary-General's special representative for Cyprus, Maria Angela Holguin, was leaked. It was revealed that the plan proposed that NATO provide security on the Island for the withdrawal of Turkish troops, that parts of Maraş (Varosha) and Güzelyurt (Morphou) be left to the Greek Cypriots, and that the Cyprus file be handled together with Turkey-EU relations.

Shortly before the summit, it was announced what was included in the European Parliament report that slammed Turkey. Let us summarize the part of the report regarding Cyprus:

While the steps taken by the UN Secretary-General's special representative towards restarting comprehensive settlement negotiations were welcomed, the EU Commission was also called upon to rapidly appoint a new special representative... It was reiterated that the only solution to the “Cyprus problem” is the reunification of Cyprus, and Turkey was asked to abandon its “unacceptable two-state solution proposal” and withdraw its troops... The TRNC was characterized as a “separatist entity in occupied Cyprus,” and Turkey's attempts to raise the status of this “entity” through the Organization of Turkic States and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation were strongly condemned... It was also demanded that Turkey recognize the “Republic of Cyprus” and not block the Greek Cypriot side's NATO membership.

This report was adopted in the European Parliament with 575 votes on the day the NATO Summit was held, and at the last minute, the slander that the TSK (Turkish Armed Forces) “committed sexual violence against Greek women and girls” in Cyprus was also added.

Was Approval Obtained from Ankara?

Coming to the NATO Summit;

Trump's sycophant NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, and EU Council President Antonio Costa gave a joint message of “strong Europe, strong NATO.”

Costa and Leyen, who also met with Erdoğan, claimed that the EU and Turkey are strategic partners and stated, “We must evaluate the renewed momentum to find a solution to the Cyprus problem through the UN-led process.” Erdoğan, on the other hand, said that “Turkey's primary expectation is the revitalization of the EU membership process.”

And just four days after the summit, while Leyen announced that the EU would appoint a special representative for Cyprus, she stated that they had a “good meeting” with UN Secretary-General Guterres and said, “We can feel that the momentum towards solving the Cyprus problem within the UN framework, in line with EU principles, values, and legislation, has been revitalized. This opportunity must not be missed. We look forward to the progress to be made in the coming months,” and announced the next day that she had appointed her Deputy, Raffaele Fitto, as the special representative for Cyprus.

A day later, while giving this good news to Greek Cypriot Leader Nikos Christodoulides, whom she met at the Volunteers Meeting on Ukraine held in Paris, she said exactly this:

“The EU is fully involved in the process. We will work together to seize this opportunity.”

First of all, let us note the following.

This is Leyen's second attempt to appoint a special representative. When she first appointed Johannes Hahn, one of the EU commissioners, last May, TRNC Foreign Minister Tahsin Ertuğruloğlu described this appointment, made without the consent of the Turkish side, as a “provocative step,” declared that they did not accept Hahn's “recognition, being seen as legitimate, and involvement in the process,” and also reacted to TRNC President Tufan Erhürman meeting with this so-called representative in December.

Our Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Öncü Keçeli, while evaluating Hahn's appointment as an “internal matter of the EU,” emphasized that the EU had lost its impartiality in the Cyprus issue and reported that they expected Hahn to “urge the Greek side to finally accept the realities on the Island of Cyprus.”

In the end, after Hahn made various attempts, he resigned from the so-called representation last March, citing “other duties and responsibilities.” But the EU, which does not give up, has now appointed Fitto.

As for the reactions to this new appointment?

The TRNC Ministry of Foreign Affairs, emphasizing that they would not accept this provocative step either and that Fitto would not be taken as an interlocutor, pointed out that “at a time when there is no common ground between the two sides, an artificial process is being created before the informal meeting, which is perceived to be held in the coming days, and the EU is trying to put pressure on the Turkish side by acting together with the Greek Cypriot side.”

Our Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Öncü Keçeli repeated the statement he made when Hahn was appointed and said again, “It is an internal matter of the EU.”

After the NATO Summit, where it was understood that we became a “founding actor” and are the “safety rope” extended into the well the EU has fallen into, in the words of MHP Leader Bahçeli, shouldn't Ankara have at least drawn a line by saying, “The EU's involvement in the Cyprus issue is a violation of the guarantee agreement. We do not accept this appointment and will not take it as an interlocutor.”?

Greek Prime Minister Mitsotakis, who attended the NATO Summit, being welcomed with the “Ceddin Dede” march was talked about a lot. In fact, after the reactions of the Greek media, Mitsotakis's “acting out” and walking like in Kemal Sunal's film “Sahte Kabadayı” (The Fake Tough Guy) the next day was mocked.

Let us look at the result; haven't these people been trying for decades to make Cyprus a Turkey-EU issue, just like Turkish-Greek issues, and to include the EU in the negotiations? Well, they have gained new ground on this issue. And right after the NATO Summit, at that.

It seems that what matters is not which march we welcomed them with, but which march we saw them off with!..

Müyesser YILDIZ

July 15, 2026