President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on a visit to the Turkish-occupied north of Cyprus Sunday that talks about the divided island should aim for a settlement between “two separate states”.
Talks in the past have aimed for a reunification of the Mediterranean island, which is split between the Greek-speaking Republic of Cyprus, an EU member with effective control over the island’s southern two thirds, and the breakaway north occupied by Turkey since 1974.
“There are two peoples and two separate states in Cyprus,” said Erdogan. “There must be talks for a solution on the basis of two separate states.”
