Istanbul, 20 July 2024 (dpa/MIA) — Turkey remains opposed to creating a unified Cypriot federation, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday during events on the island commemorating the 50th year of Turkey's invasion.

"We believe that a [single] federal solution is not possible in Cyprus,” the Turkish leader said on Saturday while visiting the Turkish-controlled north of the divided island.

In 1974, nationalist Greek Cypriots and the then-ruling dictatorship in Athens wanted to unite Cyprus with Greece, which led to a military coup on the island.

To prevent a union with Greece, Turkey intervened militarily. Since then, the island has been divided.

Greek Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulidis has already rejected a call by his Turkish Cypriot counterpart Ersin Tatar for a two-state-solution.

"We are under no circumstances discussing a two-state solution," Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides told dpa on Thursday.

And Greece's prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, called on Saturday for a united Cyprus.

“It’s been half a century since the national tragedy of Cyprus...We claim a European state, united, based on UN resolutions. No foreign occupation army,“ Mitsotakis wrote on the social media platform X.

A two-state solution is opposed not only by Nicosia but also by Germany, the European Union and the United Nations. The UN's goal has always been a kind of federation with a central government.

Erdoğan, meanwhile, said Ankara is “ready to negotiate and establish a permanent peace and solution in Cyprus.”

He, however, charged that Turkish Cypriots are being discriminated against and not allowed to share the island`s energy resources.

The event marking the 50th year of Turkey's invasion of the Mediterranean island, featured a military parade. A fleet of 50 ships, jets and armed drones from the Turkish mainland were to join the parade, the state news agency Anadolu reported.

Nearly a decade after the invasion, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) was proclaimed in 1983 in the northern part of the island, which to this day is only recognized by Turkey.

In 2004, the entire island was admitted to the EU as a state. De jure, the entire island has been an EU member since then, but EU law is only applied in the southern part, meaning the island is de facto divided.