NICOSIA — Turkish-Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar has again insisted the world accept the occupied northern third of the island that's still isolated, nearly 47 years after an unlawful Turkish invasion.

He has insisted on a separate two-state solution to the problem of trying to bring the island back together but that idea has been rejected by Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades.

United Nations Special Envoy Jane Holl Lute, an American diplomat, recommended calling the two sides “self-governing regions,” in an apparent bid to appease the hardliner Tatar but Anastasiades nixed that too.

Tatar, said Turkey's Turkish News Agency-Cyprus (TAK) said the only way to start successful negotiations is through accepting the sovereign equality of the Turkish- Cypriots in a self-declared republic no other country besides Turkey accepts.

He said he'd prefer to live in isolation rather than agree to let the majority Greek-Cypriots, who make up some 80 percent or more of the population, to be the island's governing body.

Tatar, who was narrowly elected in October 2020 with the backing of Turkish President Ersin Tatar, said he would follow whatever policy the Turkish leader wants and that's two states only, and permanent partition.