ANKARA, Turkey (AP) – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday ruled out discussing a federal system to reunify Cyprus, insisting a two-state agreement is the only solution for the ethnically divided island.
In a speech to lawmakers in his ruling party, Erdogan also punched Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, accusing him of being confronted and interrupting recently resumed Greek-Turkish talks aimed at reducing tensions between the two sides. two neighbors.
“There is no longer a way out in Cyprus other than the two-state solution,” Erdogan said of a peace deal that would be negotiated between two equal sovereign states. “Whether you accept it or not, a federation can no longer exist.”
Erdogan said: “It makes no sense to discuss old solutions formulas … that ignored the Turkish people on the island and condemned the failure of the negotiations for 50 years. That business is over now.”
His statement came as UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is expected to convene a meeting next month that will bring together Greek and Turkish Cypriot rivals, as well as Cyprus’ “guarantors” (Greece, Turkey). and Britain) to assess the possibilities of resuming talks with reunifying the island.
The island has been divided since 1974, when Turkey invaded after a coup with the aim of unifying the island with Greece. Only Turkey recognizes a declaration of Turkish Cypriot independence in the northern third of the island.
Turkey and Turkish separatist Cypriots say a solution that envisages a federation of Greek-speaking and Turkish-speaking areas has been tried several times over the past five decades and has led to the failure of what they say is the unwillingness of Greek Cypriots. share power Turkish Cypriots.
Greek Cypriots strongly reject any agreement that legitimizes the ethnic partition of the eastern Mediterranean island nation.
Mitsotakis, who visited Cyprus earlier this week, said Greece’s priority was to end Turkish occupation of Cyprus and that Turkey and Turkish Cypriot’s insistence on a two-state solution was “unrealistic”.
Erdogan said Mitsotakis should “know his place.”
“If they are looking for peace, they should not challenge me,” Erdogan said. “If you don’t know your site, it means you’re kicking the table.”
Last month, officials from Greece and Turkey held their first meeting in five years in Istanbul, after a year that saw the two NATO members reach the brink of conflict in the eastern Mediterranean.