'Turkey favors fair, permanent solution of Cyprus issue'

Turkey believes in a fair and permanent solution to the Cyprus issue, the country's vice president said during a visit to Northern Cyprus on Wednesday.

"We stand against injustice and stand by the will for a solution on the Cyprus issue. The Turkish side favors a fair, permanent solution," Fuat Oktay told a joint press conference in Lefkoşa, the Turkish Cypriot capital, with Ersin Tatar, president of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC).

Stressing that Turkey will never abandon Northern Cyprus, he said there are two separate communities, democracies, and states on the island.

Oktay called on the European Union to take a more impartial, just, and fair approach to the issue.

"There is no way out in Cyprus other than a two-state solution, we are clear on this issue. A two-state solution must be negotiated," he added.

For his part, Ersin Tatar said that they definitely stand in harmony with Turkey on the Cyprus issue.

While Greece and the Greek Cypriot administration support a federation on Cyprus, Turkey and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) insist on a two-state solution reflecting the realities on the island.

Turkish officials favor negotiations based on sovereign equality to resolve the decades-long issue.

The island of Cyprus has been divided 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.