Representatives of opposition political parties from both sides, Akel and the CTP, are to travel to New York to attend events and hold meetings on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in the coming week.

Akel leader Stefanos Stefanou and head of the party’s Cyprus problem department Toumazos Tselepis will travel to New York on Sunday, while CTP leader Tufan Erhurman and the party’s foreign relations secretary Fikri Toros will travel there on Monday.

Both Stefanou and Erhurman have been invited to speak at an event organised by Socialist International, which will focus on “investing in dialogue and diplomacy.

Newspaper Yeni Duzen reported on Saturday that Erhurman will meet UN Assistant Secretary-General for Europe Miroslav Jenca as well as other dignitaries to “convey the CTP’s vision for a solution to international actors, and to create an environment of more active dialogue”.

In addition to being able to put his party’s position on the Cyprus problem across to an international audience, Toros was also keen to stress that the trip to New York is also an opportunity for the CTP to present Tufan Erhurman as an alternative Turkish Cypriot leader to the incumbent Ersin Tatar with just over a year to go until the next election.

“The CTP is offering a new leader to the community. There is a gap in terms of leadership. We are preparing a new leader. The leader is not just the person sitting at the top, he is the person who represents the Turkish Cypriots correctly in terms of international relations,” he said.