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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called on Sunday for talks to aim for "two separate states" in Cyprus, during a controversial visit to the north of the divided island which Turkey has occupied for nearly five decades.

The last UN-sponsored peace talks in 2017 between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, based on the island's reunification, failed, Euronews reported.

"There are two peoples and two separate states in Cyprus. There must be talks aimed at a solution based on two separate states," Erdogan said in a speech upon his arrival.

The Turkish leader made it clear he believed the reunification plan now belonged to the past.

"You cannot dry today's washing with yesterday's sunshine," he went on.

Cyprus has been divided since Turkey invaded its northern part in 1974 in response to a coup seeking to attach the island to Greece.

The Republic of Cyprus, the only internationally-recognised state and a member of the European Union, exerts its authority over two-thirds of the island south of a UN-monitored buffer zone.

The self-proclaimed Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), recognised internationally only by Ankara, controls the northern third of the island where some 30,000 Turkish soldiers are stationed.