Tatar met TC political leaders on Friday before flying to New York

Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar met with political leaders on Friday ahead of his trip to New York for the United Nations General Assembly.

The leaders of all four parties represented in the north’s ‘parliament’, the UBP’s Unal Ustel, the CTP’s Tufan Erhurman, the DP’s Fikri Ataoglu, and the YDP’s Erhan Arikli, visited Tatar’s official residence in northern Nicosia on Friday.

Following the meeting, Tatar made a speech, saying “the rights of the Turkish Cypriot people should be registered [by the UN General Assembly]”.

He said, “our policy continues as it is” and said that negotiations between Cyprus’s two sides must take place “based on common grounds, sovereign equality and equal international status” between them.

Ustel told reporters he “wished [Tatar] good luck and “confirmed how much our people were victimised and how the negotiations … always ended in failure”.

Erhurman appeared less enthusiastic about Tatar’s plans, however, saying “we think a formula other than a bizonal federation in line with the UN Security Council’s decisions is unrealistic”.

He added, “Nikos Christodoulides is being dressed as the side that wants a solution, and he does not deserve this at all”.

He also spoke about the Pyla-Arsos road, saying “the people of Pyla need and demanded the construction of this road, but the mistakes made in the methods followed led to the Turkish Cypriot side being unanimously condemned”.

“The possibility of us committing a crime under international law was mentioned [at the meeting]”, he added.

Tatar is due to leave Cyprus on Sunday to fly to New York, as is customary for Turkish Cypriot leaders.

It is believed he will meet with President Nikos Christodoulides, who will make a speech at the General Assembly on Wednesday, and UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres. The rest of his programme has not yet been made public.

He will be joined in New York by his ‘foreign minister’ Tahsin Ertugruloglu and the ‘ministry’s’ undersecretary Mustafa Lakadamyali.

In previous years, he has also held meetings in New York with representatives of the United States’ Turkish Cypriot community, representatives of the Turkish government, and the north’s ‘official representative’ in New York.