Turkish president receives prime minister of Northern Cyprus

By Diyar Guldogan

ANKARA (AA) - Türkiye's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday received Unal Ustel, the prime minister of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), for talks in the capital Ankara.

The Turkish presidency did not share any further information about the closed-door meeting held at the presidential complex.

Cyprus has been mired in a decades-long dispute between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, despite a series of diplomatic efforts by the UN to achieve a comprehensive settlement.

Ethnic attacks starting in the early 1960s forced Turkish Cypriots to withdraw into enclaves for their safety.

In 1974, a Greek Cypriot coup aimed at Greece's annexation of the island led to Türkiye's military intervention as a guarantor power to protect Turkish Cypriots from persecution and violence. As a result, the TRNC was founded in 1983.

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 Türkiye, Greece and the UK.

The Greek Cypriot administration was admitted to the EU in 2004, the same year when Greek Cypriots thwarted a UN plan to end the longstanding dispute.