WASHINGTON

US President Joe Biden will host Greek Cypriot administration leader Nikos Christodoulides for a bilateral meeting at the White House on Wednesday.

Biden and Christodoulides will discuss several international issues, including energy security and cooperation, events in the Middle East, and support to Ukraine in its defense against Russia, White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement.

"Acknowledging the 50th anniversary of the island’s division, President Biden will reiterate U.S. support for a bizonal, bicommunal federation with political equality for all Cypriots," she added.

The island of Cyprus has been mired in a decades-long dispute between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, despite a series of diplomatic efforts 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 Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) was founded in 1983.

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

Türkiye fully supports a two-state solution on the island of Cyprus based on sovereign equality and equal international status.