Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday ruled out any return to negotiations towards a federal solution to the Cyprus problem, regardless of who wins next month’s Turkish Cypriot leadership election.

Speaking to journalists on his flight back to Turkey from a meeting with United States President Donald Trump at the White House, he was asked whether Turkey’s policy regarding Cyprus “could change based on the … election results”.

His response was that “our minds and policies on the Cyprus issue are clear”.

“The matter of federation is now closed for us. No one can draw us back into talks for a federation with wordplay. Turkish Cypriots will never accept being a minority on the island. The only realistic solution is to accept the existence of two states on the island,” he said.

He added that he had “already stated this clearly in our address to the UN general assembly” on Tuesday, stressing, “we reiterated our position there and declared it to the entire world”.

“It would be wrong to expect this stance to change. We want the elections in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus to be beneficial. We believe that the Turkish Cypriot people will make the right, most appropriate choice. As a motherland and a guarantor power, we will never abandon our Turkish Cypriot brothers and sisters,” he said.

The Turkish Cypriot leadership election will take place on October 19, and will see incumbent Ersin Tatar challenged by former Turkish Cypriot ‘prime minister’ Tufan Erhurman, who advocates for a return to negotiations based on a federal solution.

Erdogan had declared in his speech 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”.

“There are two separate states and two separate peoples on the island of Cyprus. Turkish Cypriots are equal owners of the island and cannot accept being a minority. The international community must end the unjust isolation to which the Turkish Cypriots have been subjected for half a century,” he said.

As such, he said, “I reiterate the call I made at the last three United Nations general assemblies”.

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