Turkey is ready to provide water to southern Cyprus just as it has to the north of the island, Ankara's forestry and water affairs minister said yesterday.

Veysel Eroğlu was speaking during the 4th Istanbul International Water Forum held under the theme of "Water and Peace."

"Some are asking: ‘Will not you give water to southern Cyprus?' If they (southern Cypriots) come close to us one step, we will go to them running," Eroğlu said.

"If they want peace, we are ready to take water to the south as well - if our government considers it appropriate - because humanity requires this," he added.

In recent years, Turkey has begun to transfer 75 million cubic meters of fresh water per annum from Turkey to the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC). The project is to last for the next 50 years.

The first flow of fresh water from Turkey to the TRNC was sent in October 2015 and has continued unabated since then.

Cyprus was divided into a Turkish Cypriot state in the north and a Greek Cypriot administration in the south after an Enosis-inspired 1974 military coup was followed by violence against the island's Turkish people, and Turkey's intervention as a guarantor power.

The status of the island remains unresolved in spite of a series of discussions that resumed in May 2015.