Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan repeated the call for a two-state solution to Cyprus, as he said a better future was possible for the island.
“There is no other option but a two-state solution for Cyprus, ” Fidan told a joint news conference with Republic of Turkish Cyprus (TRNC) President Ersin Tatar in Lefkoşa on Wednesday.
He noted that it was possible for Türkiye, Greece, Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus and the Greek Cypriot administration to come together and find a solution for a better future for Cyprus.
The island of Cyprus has been mired in a decadeslong struggle between Greek and Turkish Cypriots, despite a series of diplomatic efforts by the U.N. to achieve a comprehensive settlement. Five decades of Cyprus talks have led nowhere.
In the early 1960s, ethnic attacks forced Turkish Cypriots to withdraw into enclaves for their safety. In 1974, a Greek Cypriot coup aiming at Greece’s annexation of the island led to Türkiye’s military intervention as a guarantor power to protect Turkish Cypriots from persecution and violence.
The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) was founded in 1983.
The island has seen an on-and-off peace process in recent years, including a failed 2017 initiative in Switzerland.
The Greek Cypriot administration entered the European Union in 2004, the same year that Greek Cypriots thwarted the U.N.’s Annan plan to end the decadeslong dispute that had envisaged a reunited Cyprus joining the EU.
The status of the island remains unresolved, in spite of a series of negotiations over the years.
While Greece and the Greek Cypriot administration support a federation on Cyprus, Türkiye and the TRNC insist on a two-state solution reflecting the realities on the island.