Erdoğan receives Turkish Cypriot premier

ISTANBUL-Anadolu Agency

Turkish president on June 3 met with prime minister of Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) at Vahdettin Pavilion in Istanbul.

The meeting between Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Ersin Tatar lasted one-and-a-half hour.

Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu and TRNC's Foreign Minister Kudret Özersay also attended the meeting.

In 1974, following a coup aiming at Cyprus' annexation by Greece, Ankara had to intervene as a guarantor power. In 1983, the TRNC was founded.

The decades since have seen several attempts to resolve the dispute, all ending in failure. The latest one, held with the participation of the guarantor countries -- Turkey, Greece, and the U.K. -- ended in 2017 in Switzerland.

Turkey's first seismic vessel, the Barbaros Hayrettin Paşa, bought from Norway in 2013, has been doing exploration in the Mediterranean since April 2017.