U.S. senator calls two-state deal for divided Cyprus 'wrong'

The chairman of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee says the “retrograde vision” of Turkey’s president to cement Cyprus’ ethnic divide by striving for a two-state deal “is wrong” for all Cypriots

NICOSIA, Cyprus -- The chairman of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee said on Monday that the “retrograde vision” of Turkey’s president to cement Cyprus’ ethnic divide by striving for a two-state deal “is wrong” for all Cypriots. Robert Menendez, a Democratic senator from New Jersey, said a peace accord for Cyprus based on two separate states “flies in the face” of U.N. Security Council resolutions as well a decades-old arrangement between Greek and Turkish Cypriot negotiators to reunify Cyprus as a federation. Speaking after receiving Cyprus’ highest honor — the Grand Collar of the Order of Makarios III — from President Nicos Anastasiades at a ceremony, Menendez said Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots could strike a reunification deal if left to negotiate on their own. Cyprus has been divided into a breakaway Turkish Cypriot north and a Greek Cypriot south where the island’s internationally recognized government is seated since 1974, when Turkey invaded following a coup aiming at union with Greece.