FM meets Turkish Cypriot counterpart in Antalya

The foreign minister on Monday met with his counterpart from Turkish Cyprus in the Mediterranean Antalya province.

Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu met Kudret Özersay, deputy prime minister and foreign affairs minister of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), who was in Antalya to attend the opening ceremony of the TRNC Consulate.

Later on Twitter, Çavuşoğlu said the two officials discussed "bilateral issues and recent developments on the Cyprus issue."

Çavuşoğlu also met Jane Holl Lute, U.N. special envoy to Cyprus: "Emphasized at our meeting with Ms. Jane Holl Lute, the official assigned by the #U.N. Secretary-General that all options are on the table for a permanent solution in Cyprus; yet, in any case, political equality of the Turkish Cypriots is a must!" he wrote on Twitter.

Cyprus has been divided since 1974 when a Greek Cypriot coup 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 the latest initiative in Switzerland under the auspices of guarantor countries Turkey, Greece and the U.K. collapsing in 2017. In his latest report published in January, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also reiterated he has confidence that "prospects remain alive for a comprehensive settlement within a foreseeable horizon."