The cause of Turkish Cypriots and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) is also the national cause of Turkiye, the Turkish parliament speaker said on Thursday.
"Everyone in Turkiye agrees on the TRNC. We always support and will continue to support the TRNC under all circumstances," Mustafa Sentop said after receiving Turkish Cypriot lawmakers and Prime Minister Faiz Sucuoglu at Turkey's parliament in the capital Ankara.
"Undoubtedly, this is not just an issue of sentiment. The cause of the TRNC is our national cause," said Sentop, underlining that the Turkish Cypriot cause is built on justified legal, political and historical foundations.
Though political parties in the Turkish parliament have their differences on number of issues, support for the TRNC is where those differences are put aside and they show united front, he added.
Sucuoglu, for his part, said Turkiye and the TRNC were "two states, but one nation" and stressed that Ankara has unconditionally provided all manner of assistance to the Turkish Cypriots, regardless of the circumstances.
The Turkish Cypriot premier said his government was in support of TRNC President Ersin Tatar's two-state solution for Cyprus, adding that this approach would help secure international recognition of the TRNC.
Cyprus has been mired in a decades-long dispute between Greek and Turkish Cypriots, despite a series of diplomatic efforts by the UN to achieve a comprehensive settlement.
Ethnic attacks starting in the early 1960s forced Turkish Cypriots to withdraw into enclaves for their safety.
In 1974, a Greek Cypriot coup aimed at Greece’s annexation of the island led to Turkiye's military intervention as a guarantor power to protect Turkish Cypriots from persecution and violence. As a result, the TRNC was founded in 1983.
It has seen an on-and-off peace process in recent years, including a failed 2017 initiative in Switzerland under the auspices of guarantor countries Turkiye, Greece and the UK.
The Greek Cypriot administration entered the EU in 2004, the same year Greek Cypriots thwarted a UN plan to end the longstanding dispute.
