ANKARA

The top diplomats of Turkey and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) on Monday invited Greece to take part in exploratory talks, with a first meeting set for this month.

Stating that 52 years of talks on the Cyprus issue have yielded nothing, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told reporters in the Turkish capital Ankara that negotiations over a federation have been exhausted, and that sovereign equality must be negotiated under a two-state solution for the island.

The stance of Turkey and the TRNC on the issue is very clear, he added.

Speaking alongside Turkish Cypriot Foreign Minister Tahsin Ertugruloglu, who is visiting Ankara, Cavusgolu said they have proposed an unofficial 5 + 1 meeting consisting of the UN, the parties on Cyprus, and guarantor countries.

On exploratory talks over the years between Greece, he said to date 60 meetings were held, producing more than 5,000 pages of documents.

Through the negotiations stopped in 2015, when Alexis Tsipras became Greek prime minister, Cavusoglu said that with recent developments in the Eastern Mediterranean, the talks came back on the agenda.

Greece has said they could start negotiations after Jan. 11, he added.

"Today is Jan. 11, and Turkey sends you an invitation,” said Cavusoglu. “As of today, we invite Greece for exploratory talks with the first meeting scheduled this month. We are the host country and our friends and delegations who will conduct these negotiations will determine its date together with their counterparts in Greece. Today we are ready to discuss all matters as always, as a self-confident country."

Discussion of federation out of the question

"The process of inter-communal negotiations in Cyprus is over and the discussion of a federation is out of the question," said Turkish Cyprus’ Ertugruloglu for his part.

He said there is no sovereignty in a federation and that if sovereign peoples are to form a partnership as sovereign state owners, it would be a confederation.

Ertugruloglu said they would not pick off from where they left off in the unsuccessful 2017 talks in Crans-Montana, Switzerland, as expecting different results by repeating the same things makes no sense.

He stressed that they came to these processes by negotiations where the Turkish side positively viewed the agreement model brought by the international community, while the Greek side rejected it.

He said that the whole process came to the agenda with the goodwill of the Turkish side, as the 5 + 1 proposal.

Ertugruloglu added that they do not have 52 more years to waste.

Meeting with UN envoy on Cyprus

According to Turkish Cypriot presidential sources, TRNC President Ersin Tatar is expected to meet UN Cyprus Envoy Jane Holl Lute on Monday afternoon.

Tatar is expected to convey clear and determined messages to Lute about the Turkish side's stance before a possible negotiation process that could begin on the Mediterranean island, according to the sources.

The Turkish Cypriot leader will explain in detail the model for the Cyprus issue based on two separate states with sovereign equality advocated by the Turkish side.

During the meeting, Tatar is expected to tell Lute that the negotiations cannot start from where they left off in 2017, so talks on a new federation are out of the question.

Lute is also expected to meet with Greek Cypriot administration leader Nicos Anastasiades on Monday.

The meetings come ahead of an expected 5 + 1 informal meeting on Cyprus set to be held under UN auspices.

The island of Cyprus has been divided since 1974 when a Greek Cypriot coup was followed by violence against the island's Turks and Turkey'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.