Turkiye’s Erdogan insists on Cyprus two-state solution

NORTH NICOSIA (AFP): Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday reaffirmed his country’s support for a two-state solution in Cyprus, urging the international community to accept the Mediterranean island’s existing division.

Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when a Turkish invasion followed a coup in Nicosia backed by Greece’s then-military junta. The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, declared in 1983, is recognized only by Ankara.

“We fully support the vision based on a two-state solution,” Erdogan said during a visit to northern Cyprus marking 51 years since Turkish troops invaded the island.

“It is time for the international community to make peace with the realities on the ground,” Erdogan said.

The Turkish leader’s visit comes few days after UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that meetings between Cyprus’s rival leaders at the organization’s New York headquarters were “constructive,” even as questions remained about crossing points on the island.

Erdogan on Sunday called for an end to the isolation of the TRNC.

“Diplomatic, political, and economic relations should be established with the TRNC, and the injustice endured by Turkish Cypriots for decades must finally come to an end,” he said.

The last major round of peace talks collapsed in Crans-Montana, Switzerland, in July 2017.