He is not discussing anything beyond the seven points put forward by UN Secretary-General António Guterres, nor has he rejected a proposal for a trilateral UN meeting, Tufan Erhurman said today, noting that the proposal for a 2+1 meeting in New York came from Nikos Christodoulides and not from the UN, which the President of the Republic did not mention at the last meeting of the leaders in Nicosia, while he characterized the Greek Cypriot side’s submission of 19 points as an attempt “to water down the cooked meal.”
In an extensive press conference lasting one hour and 10 minutes, the Turkish Cypriot leader provided a chronological account of what took place in New York during the meetings between himself and his representative, Mehmet Dana, regarding the issue of the trilateral meeting. He noted that during his 11-month tenure as leader of the Turkish Cypriot community, the Greek Cypriot side has taken 13 actions—which he listed—and believes they do not foster a climate of trust, while responding to a related question, he said that if President Christodoulides wants weekly meetings in Nicosia or every 10 days, he is willing to do so. “Even marathon meetings,” he added, as long as they are focused on results.
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Some, he continued, may believe that the more meetings we hold and the more photos we take, the better, but he does not share that view. “We need to get work done,” to produce results rather than engage in conversations just for the sake of it, he continued. He reiterated that he has no intention of walking away from the negotiating table, but he will not sit through 2+1 or 5+1 meetings just for the sake of having a meeting.
“Ahead of us,” he said, we have a period of 2.5 months and a UN Secretary-General who says he will work until the very last day, so what they need to do is focus on the 7 points he gave them as homework.
Mr. Erhurman said that during the meeting they had on the morning of September 24 in New York with the UN Secretary-General’s Personal Envoy, they were not told anything about the possibility of a trilateral meeting there. At 11:35 a.m. New York time, Ms. Olgin had conveyed President Christodoulides’ request for a trilateral meeting in a text message to Mr. Dana and sought their position, he added.
At 11:45, he continued, a meeting was scheduled between Mr. Dana and the UN Deputy Secretary-General, Rosemary DiCarlo, which took place without any mention of a trilateral meeting.
At 1:00 p.m. New York time, he added, a meeting took place between the two negotiators and Ms. Olgin, followed by a meeting of the three aforementioned individuals with the UN Deputy Secretary-General, Rosemary DiCarlo, but the issue of the trilateral meeting was not on the agenda. He also said that this meeting was essentially a trilateral one, but not at the leadership level. At that meeting, he continued, it was determined that no progress had been made on Mr. Guterres’s seven points.
At 5:30 p.m. New York time, he noted, Mr. Dana received a new text message from Ms. Olgin asking for the Turkish Cypriot side’s response to Mr. Christodoulides’ proposal for a trilateral meeting. Mr. Erhurman said that he replied: “We have seven points to work on. If there is a possibility of agreement on any of them and if Mr. Guterres has the time, I will participate in such a meeting.” This message, he added, remained unanswered.
On the morning of September 25, Mr. Erhurman continued, while he was meeting with the secretaries-general of the OTK and OIS at the Turkish House, Ms. Olgin asked to see them and conveyed the message that there was a possibility of compromise on his request for a rotating presidency and, in that case, whether she would accept Christodoulides’ request for a trilateral meeting. Mr. Erhurman said he replied that it would not be appropriate to discuss the rotating presidency, “which is a direct part of the policy of equality” and is a matter of substance, as part of the MOE and in conjunction with security and guarantee issues. “If the rotating presidency is to be considered a confidence-building measure, I cannot accept it. This is a matter of substance and political equality,” he said he replied.
Mr. Erhurman recalled that, in response to a related question, the UN Secretary-General himself had said a few days earlier that there would be neither a trilateral nor a 5+1 meeting and that there is still much work to be done. Nevertheless, he added, President Christodoulides went to New York and proposed a trilateral meeting. He also referred to an interview with Ms. Olgin published today by the Turkish news agency ANKA, in which she states that a trilateral meeting was not on the agenda in New York.
The Seven Points
Tufan Erhürman said that they have before them the seven points proposed by Antonio Guterres, and setting aside his own proposals, what he wants is for progress to be made on these points, reiterating that he accepts point 6 as is, while point 7—which concerns crossing points—is open to discussion. “Christodoulides, however, rejected all seven proposals and submitted 19 new ones. Therefore, what Christodoulides intended to do in New York was to present Guterres with 19 new points and to nullify the Secretary-General’s 7,” Mr. Erchiurman argued.
Reason for 13 actions by the Greek Cypriot side
Mr. Erhurman said that he arrived in New York and that very same day, the Greek Cypriotside circulated a letter to the UN recommending that UN member states not meet with the Turkish Cypriot side so as not to spread “secessionist policies.” On September 24, he said, toward evening the issue arose regarding the change in the title of the “mayor” of Nicosia, Mehmet Harmanci at the Cyprus Forum, as recommended by the government of the Republic of Cyprus—a matter he brought to Ms. Olgin’s attention.
He also claimed that in the 11 months he has been in office, there have been 13 actions by the Greek Cypriot side that undermine trust, including the recent cancellation of two festivals, the cancellation of the Barcelona Academy’s training camp, two European Parliament resolutions on the rapes and missing persons of 1974, and efforts to prevent the “Immovable Property Commission” as an effective domestic legal remedy, the obstruction of Mr. Dana’s meeting with foreign diplomats in the buffer zone in Nicosia, the removal of “universities” from international lists, and so on. He said he raised these points during his meeting with the Secretary-General, just as he had with foreign diplomats he met in his office before traveling to New York.
When asked to comment on the content of the 19-point Greek Cypriot proposal, Tufan Erhurman said that President Christodoulides would do so if he wished, President Christodoulides, while making it clear that he himself would not discuss anything beyond Mr. Guterres’s seven points. “I told Mr. Guterres himself that if we don’t focus on these seven points and keep wasting time, we won’t get anywhere.” The seven points, he continued, could become eight or nine—he has no objection to that—but abandoning the seven to move on to nineteen is not feasible, he added.
When asked whether Mr. Christodoulides’ 19 points include Mr. Guterres’ 7, he replied that these are 19 new points.
Finally, when asked to comment on whether, following Averof Neophytou’s announcement of his intention to run for president in 2028, he himself, through the Cyprus issue, would become part of the pre-election campaign in the Republic of Cyprus, Tufan Erhurman said that just as he remains neutral regarding the upcoming “elections” on the Turkish Cypriot side, he will not comment on or take any side in the presidential race either.
Source: KYPE
