BERLIN – German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock dismissed out of hand a demand by Turkish-Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar for two separate states on Cyprus and his insistence the world recognize the occupied northern third.

“Germany is solidly on your side. A solution can only be found based on the basis of United Nations resolutions,” said Baerbock during a joint news conference with Cypriot Foreign Minister Ioannis Kasoulides, reported Reuters.

Cyprus was split in 1974 over two unlawful Turkish invasions and decades of diplomacy has failed to find any solution or progress toward reunification, with Tatar now also flatly rejecting that idea.

“Partition cannot be a solution”” said Kasoulides. “There are three elections coming up, in Cyprus, Greece and Turkey, and certainly efforts in moving forward to resuming a dialogue can only start after the Turkish elections,” he also added.