US rejects Erdoğan's proposal for two states in Cyprus

The United States rejected Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's proposal for two states in Cyprus.

The United States rejected Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's proposal for two states in Cyprus. Instead, Victoria Nuland, the under secretary of state for political affairs, urged to continue efforts for a united island with two zones.

"We think only a Cypriot-led process -- bizonal, bicommunal -- will bring peace and stability in Cyprus," Nuland told a Senate hearing.

Turkish president Erdogan visited divided Nicosia on Tuesday and called for two separate states on the island, thus pushing aside a UN-backed goal of two zones with separate regional administrations that would remain a unified state.

Cyprus has been divided since 1974 when Turkey invaded in response to an abortive coup engineered by the then military junta in Athens that aimed to unite the island with Greece.