North Cyprus leader pushes for two-state solution, agrees to informal summit
North Cyprus President Ersin Tatar reiterated support for a two-state solution as the island’s two leaders agreed to participate in an informal summit during talks with UN envoy Jane Holl Lute Tuesday.
ISTANBUL — The newly elected leader of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), Ersin Tatar, reiterated his stance on a two-state solution for Cyprus Tuesday, saying federation-based peace talks had failed to make progress in recent years.
"The Turkish Cypriot people are one of the two nations living on the island," Tatar said Tuesday, adding they have "sovereignty rights from historical treaties and the chance to live in peace, tranquility and security in these lands."
Tatar made the statements after a meeting with UN envoy Jane Holl Lute, who spoke with leaders from both sides of the island Tuesday and said they were willing to participate in an informal five-party summit to explore possible resolutions.
The breakaway TRNC was established after a 1974 Turkish military incursion and remains recognized only by Ankara as sovereign state. The government of the Republic of Cyprus, an EU member state, has long rejected a two-state solution for the ethnically divided island in favor of a bizonal, bicommunal federation.
