Anti-Erodgan protest in Cyprus during his visit

Dozens of protesters gathered in the village of Derynia in eastern Cyprus on Monday as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke in the divided state's parliament.

The village is located 2 kilometres (1.2 miles) away from Turkish-controlled Famagusta, in the breakaway Turkish Cypriot north of the ethnically divided island nation.

The demonstrators called for a reunion of the fractured state while Erdogan said in an address that the only route to peace was the international community's acceptance of two separate states on the east Mediterranean island.

Erdogan made the comments to Turkish Cypriot lawmakers in Cyprus' breakaway north ahead of celebrations to mark the 47th anniversary of a Turkish invasion that split the island along ethnic lines.

Turkey's 1974 invasion came in the wake of a Greek junta backed coup that aimed at union with Greece. Only Turkey recognises a Turkish-Cypriot declaration of independence and keeps 35,000 troops there.

In a 1983 resolution, the UN Security Council denounced the Turkish Cypriots' secessionist move as legally invalid and called for its withdrawal. The European Union has also ruled out a two-state deal.

European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen said in Nicosia earlier this month that the 27 member-bloc, which Cyprus joined in 2004, would "never, ever" accept such an arrangement.

But Turkey and the Turkish Cypriots say a two-state deal is the only way to peace because nearly five decades of negotiations based on forging a federation have led nowhere. They fault Greek Cypriots' unwillingness to "accept the realities" and see Turkish Cypriots as "equal partners."

Cyprus' internationally recognised government seated in the island's Greek Cypriot south says there can be no deviation from a 1977 deal to reach a formal peace accord by negotiating a federation made up of a Turkish Cypriot and a Greek Cypriot zone.

But the majority Greek Cypriots object to Turkey's demand for a permanent military presence on the island amid fears that it would turn the island into Ankara's "protectorate."