Northern Cyprus authorities are to open the coastal section of the long fenced-off disputed town of Varosha, a Turkish Cypriot official announced on Tuesday.

Speaking after a meeting in Ankara with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkish Cypriot official Ersin Tatar told reporters that "the coast will open to the public from Thursday morning."

The Turkish army has kept the town fenced off since its Greek Cypriot residents fled when it invaded northern Cyprus in 1974 in response to an Athens-engineered coup attempting to unite the island with Greece.

Backed by Ankara, Tatar is running in Sunday's election in northern Cyprus against current Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci, seen as a pro-reunification moderate.

The so-called government in the northern part of Cyprus is recognized only by Turkey, as the breakaway state declared in 1983 has been condemned by the UN Security Council as illegal.

Turkey has long planned to open Varosha. Erdogan on Tuesday welcomed Tatar's announcement as a "courageous decision."

"We hope Varosha will entirely open. We are ready to give any support on this issue," Erdogan said.

"It is an undisputed fact that Varosha is a Turkish Cypriot territory. The decision about it rests with the Turkish Cypriot authorities," he added.

The UN Security Council has passed several resolutions calling for UN administration of Varosha and for its original Greek Cypriot residents to return.