ANKARA, Turkey (AP) – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday ruled out discussion of a federal system to reunite Cyprus, emphasizing that a two-state agreement is the only solution to the ethnically split island.
Speaking to lawmakers at his ruling party, Erdogan also swept Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, accusing him of being confrontational and disrupting newly resumed Greek-Turkish talks to ease tensions between the two neighbors.
“There is no other way out for Cyprus than the two-state solution,” Erdogan said, referring to a peace deal to be negotiated between two equal sovereign states. “Accept it or not, there can be no such thing as a federation anymore.”
Erdogan said, “There is no point in discussing old solution formulas … which the Turkish people on the island ignored and condemned the negotiations to failure for 50 years. That business has now ended. “
His statement came when UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is expected to convene a meeting next month that will bring together rival Greek and Turkish Cypriots and the ‘guarantors’ of Cyprus – Greece, Turkey and Britain – to bring the to gauge chances of resuming talks with reuniting the island.
The island has been divided since 1974 when Turkey invaded after a coup aimed at unifying the island with Greece. Only Turkey recognizes a Turkish Cypriot declaration of independence in the northern third of the island.
Turkey and breakaway Turkish Cypriots say a solution proposing a federation made up of Greek and Turkish-speaking zones has been tried countless times over the past five decades and led to a failure to comply with what they say: the Greek Cypriots’ reluctance to share power with the Turkish Cypriots.
Greek Cypriots vigorously reject any deal that would legitimize the ethnic division of the island nation in the Eastern Mediterranean.
Mitsotakis, who visited Cyprus earlier this week, said Greece’s priority was to end the Turkish occupation of Cyprus and that Turkey’s and Turkish Cypriots’ push for a two-state solution was “unrealistic”.
Erdogan said Mitsotakis “should know his place”.
“If they are looking for peace, they should not challenge me,” said Erdogan. “If you don’t know your seat, it means you’re kicking the negotiating table.”
Last month, officials from Greece and Turkey held their first meeting in five years in Istanbul, following a year in which the two NATO members were on the brink of conflict in the Eastern Mediterranean.