Top Turkish, British diplomats discuss Cyprus issue

ANKARA-Anadolu Agency

The Turkish foreign minister on Jan. 3 spoke with his British counterpart over the phone, according to diplomatic sources.

Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu and Dominic Raab addressed bilateral relations and the Cyprus issue said diplomatic sources speaking on the condition of anonymity.

The island of Cyprus has been divided into the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) in the north and the Greek Cypriot administration in the south since 1974, when a Greek Cypriot coup aimed at Greece’s annexation of the island was followed by violence against the island’s Turks and Ankara’s intervention as a guarantor power.

It has seen an on-and-off peace process in recent years, including a failed 2017 initiative in Switzerland under the auspices of guarantor countries Turkey, Greece, and the UK. The TRNC was founded in 1983.

Turkey has recently stressed that efforts for a “federal” solution to the divided island of Cyprus have proved hopeless and any future talks must focus on two separate, sovereign states on the island.

In a separate phone conversation, the top Turkish diplomat also held a phone conversation with his Mongolian counterpart Batmunkh Battsetseg.

Çavuşoğlu congratulated Battsetseg over her recent appointment as the foreign minister of Mongolia.