ISTANBUL — Cyprus marked the 50th anniversary of its division on Saturday, as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan rejected a unified Cypriot federation.
"We believe that a (single) federal solution is not possible in Cyprus,” the Turkish leader said on Saturday while visiting the Turkish-controlled north of the divided island.
Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides has rejected calls for a two-state solution.
"We are under no circumstances discussing a two-state solution," Christodoulides told dpa on Thursday.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis called on Saturday for a united Cyprus.
"It’s been half a century since the national tragedy of Cyprus ... We claim a European state, united, based on U.N. resolutions. No foreign occupation army," Mitsotakis wrote on the social media platform X.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen also commented, calling the day a "tragic 50th anniversary."
"Cypriots deserve to live in a reunited country in conditions of peace, co-existence, stability and prosperity," she argued.
Von der Leyen said further: "We will continue to firmly support Cyprus in the efforts to reunify the last divided EU member state, in line with the relevant U.N. Security Council Resolutions."
Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when nationalist Greek Cypriots and the military dictatorship in Athens sought to unite Cyprus with Greece, leading to a coup on the island.
To prevent a union with Greece, Turkey intervened militarily, with the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, or TRNC, being proclaimed in 1983 in the northern part of the island. To this day, it is only recognized by Turkey.
In 2004, the entire island was admitted to the EU as a state. De jure, the entire island has been an EU member since then, but EU law is only applied in the southern part, meaning the island is de facto divided.
A two-state solution is opposed not only by Nicosia but also by the European Union and the United Nations. The U.N.'s goal has always been a federation with a central government.
Erdogan has said that Ankara is “ready to negotiate and establish a permanent peace and solution in Cyprus.”
However, he has charged that Turkish Cypriots are regularly discriminated against and not allowed to share the island's energy resources.
The event on Saturday, marking the 50th year of Turkey's invasion of the Mediterranean island, featured an elaborate military parade.
A fleet of 50 ships, jets and armed drones from the Turkish mainland were to join the parade, the state news agency Anadolu reported.
©2024 dpa GmbH. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
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