Erdogan says Cyprus to stay divided
NICOSIA: Turkey’s president said he favours a permanent “two-state” division of Cyprus during a visit Sunday to the breakaway Turkish-held north condemned as a provocation by the internationally recognised Greek-speaking south.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan also visited the beachfront area of Varosha in the north, a onetime luxury resort turned ghost town along the United Nations buffer zone that has split the Mediterranean island since Turkey’s 1974 invasion of the north.
“There are two peoples and two separate states in Cyprus,” Erdogan said after arriving for the 37th anniversary of the selfproclaimed Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, which is recognised only by Ankara.
“There must be talks for a solution on the basis of two separate states.”
Commenting on previous, failed UN-led efforts to reunify the island as a bi-communal federal state, Erdogan used the phrase “You can’t dry today’s laundry in yesterday’s sun”.
The comments marked a further setback to hopes for an eventual reunification of the island - split between EU-member the Republic of Cyprus, which controls the island’s southern two thirds, and the north, occupied by Turkey.
European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell criticised the Turkish leader’s visit.
“The EU’s message is very clear: there is no alternative to a comprehensive settlement of the Cyprus problem other than on the basis of relevant UN Security Council Resolutions,” Borrell said in a statement.
“In this respect we deplore today’s actions regarding” Varosha and “statements contradicting the UN principles for a settlement of the Cyprus question. They will cause greater distrust and tension in the region and should be urgently reversed”, the EU official added.