TURKISH President Recep Tayyip Erdogan dealt a bitter blow to the cause for a united Cyprus when he called for a two-state solution to the crisis during a recent visit to the island, communists warned today.

Cyprus’s Progressive Party of Working People (Akel) said “the definitive partition of our country has never been more visible” after Mr Erdogan’s remarks earlier this week.

The party urged the Republic of Cyprus to counter “Turkish aggressiveness” and restart stalled negotiations on reunification, which Akel initiated when it was in power but which subsequently stalled in 2017.