Cyprus standoff: Erdogan irks EU by insisting on two-state division of island

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called for an equal “two-state” solution in Cyprus and warned against what he described as “diplomacy games” over Turkey’s rights to offshore resources in the Eastern Mediterranean. In a visit to the Turkish Cypriot-controlled northern territories on Sunday, Erdogan said he favored a permanent "two-state" division of the island. Cyprus is divided into Turkish Cypriot-controlled northern and Greek Cypriot-controlled southern territories since a brief war in 1974, which saw Turkey intervene militarily in response to a military coup backed by Athens to annex Cyprus to Greece. Greek Cypriots run the island’s internationally recognized government, while...