The heads of the three political parties which make up the north’s ruling coalition on Wednesday met Turkish Vice President Cevdet Yilmaz in Ankara.

The delegation, made up of ‘prime minister’ and UBP leader Unal Ustel, ‘deputy prime minister’ and DP leader Fikri Ataoglu, and ‘transport minister’ and YDP leader Erhan Arikli, held a joint meeting with Yilmaz, before Ustel, in his capacity as ‘prime minister’, held a one-on-one meeting with him later on.

After those meetings, Ustel said they had “discussed the projects which are being constantly carried out within the framework of our economic and financial cooperation protocol”, which was signed in March and was at the time worth €510 million.

“We attach great importance to the ongoing joint efforts in a wide range of areas, from health and education to transportation and energy, which enhance the wellbeing and quality of life of our people,” he said.

He added that the ruling coalition is “resolutely pursuing our development goals”, and that while doing this, it is “reassured by the strong support of our motherland, Turkey”.

“We will continue to jointly defend our vision of a two-state solution on the island and strengthen the solidarity which arises from our brotherhood,” he said.

Wednesday’s meeting came hours after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had said in his speech to the United Nations general assembly that a solution to the Cyprus problem “cannot be built on the federal model, which has been attempted numerous times before but failed due to the Greek Cypriot side’s uncompromising stance”.

“I invite the international community to recognise the Turkish republic of northern Cyprus and to establish diplomatic, political and economic relations,” he said.

The question of what type of solution to the Cyprus problem should be pursued is currently the leading political issue in the north, with the Turkish Cypriot leadership election which is set to take place in just over three weeks’ time looming large.

In that election, incumbent Ersin Tatar, who has won the endorsement of all three ruling coalition parties and advocates for a two-state solution, will be challenged by opposition-backed candidate Tufan Erhurman, who advocates for a federal solution.

Yilmaz had last month attended one of Tatar’s campaign stops in the Karpass peninsula village of Yialousa, telling attendees that “the Republic of Turkey fully supports the two-state, realistic and fair vision put forward by President Ersin Tatar, and we will continue to do so”.

“We are in difficult times. We must be strong and united. This is not a time when we can rely on the compassion of others. We will be united, we will be strong. We will protect our rights and our laws to the very end,” he said.

Earlier in the day, Yilmaz had given a press conference at the north’s Ercan (Tymbou) airport in which he had pledged his support for a two-state solution to the Cyprus problem.

“As [Erdogan] has repeatedly stated, if there is to be a new negotiation process, it will from now on not be conducted between two communities, but between two sovereign and equal states.”

He added that “the motherland and guarantor, Turkey, will stand by the Turkish Cypriots”, and that “we will continue to strongly support the two-state solution put forward by [Tatar] and defend the rights and laws of the TRNC”.