NICOSIA: Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan insisted Tuesday on a two-state solution in Cyprus and threw his weight behind controversial plans for a partial reopening of a coastal resort town emptied of its original Greek Cypriot residents.
His uncompromising speech in the north of divided Nicosia marked another step towards opening up the ghost town and former resort of Varosha, in violation of UN resolutions and slammed as "unacceptable" by the European Union.
"We don't have another 50 years to waste," Erdogan told a crowd at a parade to mark the 47th anniversary of his country's invasion that divided the Mediterranean island.
He was referring to decades of failed UN-led efforts to reunite the Greek and Turkish Cypriot-controlled sectors of Cyprus.
"No progress can be made in negotiations without accepting that there are two peoples and two states with equal status," he said.
He also voiced support for Turkish Cypriot plans to reopen a part of Varosha, effectively handing over control from the Turkish military and changing the status quo, in defiance of UN resolutions.
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