site.btaTurkiye's Foreign Minister Calls for Resolving Cyprus Issue through Two-State Solution

Turkiye's Minister of Foreign Affairs Hakan Fidan reiterated his call for resolving the Cyprus issue through a two-state solution - a permanent division of the island of Cyprus into a Turkish Cypriot State in the north and a Greek Cypriot State in the south, Turkish media reported on Wednesday. He was speaking in Nicosia at a joint press conference with Turkish Cypriots' leader Ersin Tatar.

Fidan argued that "a better future is possible" for the island, Anadolu Agency reported.

The Turkish Foreign Minister arrived on a two-day visit to the so-called Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus [recognised only by Ankara - n.p.].

There is no other option than the existence of two states regarding the settlement of the Cyprus issue, Fidan argued. He said it was possible for Turkiye, Greece, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus and the Cypriot authorities to come together and find a solution for a better future for the island.

The visit of the Turkish Foreign Minister came at a time when United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres is planning an informal meeting between the leaders of the Greek and Turkish communities in Cyprus with the participation of the three guarantor states - Turkiye, Greece and the UK.

Cyprus has been divided in two since 1974, when the Turkish army invaded the north of the island in reaction to a coup d'état aimed at joining Cyprus to Greece. In 1983 a Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus was unilaterally declared in the north of the island, recognised only by Ankara. Turkiye insists on a two-state solution to the Cyprus problem, while the Republic of Cyprus and Greece remain committed to a federal solution.