A solution to the Cyprus problem is now an “urgent necessity”, Turkish Cypriot opposition political party CTP leader Tufan Erhurman said on Wednesday.

Speaking to the north’s public broadcaster BRT, he criticised incumbent Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar’s insistence on recognition of the north’s “sovereign equality and equal international status” as a prerequisite for negotiations to resume, and said the ongoing deadlock is a negative for both sides.

“The Turkish Cypriot side has also lost its position in the last four and a half years, and the Greek Cypriot side is also on the path to losing its position to a great extent. A solution has now become a more urgent necessity,” he said.

He touched first on the matter of the forthcoming enlarged meeting on the Cyprus problem, which is expected to take place in the Swiss city of Geneva next month, and pointed out the meeting’s international dimension.

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“While the guarantor powers and the leaders of the two communities will be at the table, the European Union and the United States are also on the periphery of the process. I think that backdoor diplomacy will be very intense in this process,” he began.

He added that it would be “overly optimistic” to expect definitive results from the meeting, but said the meeting will at the very least “ensure the continuation of the dialogue”.

“If the leaders of the two communities cannot even reach an agreement on the opening of new crossing point and this issue has reached a level where it is discussed at a table where the guarantors are also present, criticisms that the status of both the Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot sides has weakened are inevitable,” he said.

“Will the three guarantor powers come together under the leadership of the United Nations secretary-general and discuss only whether the Mia Milia crossing point should open?” he asked.

On this, he said Tatar should have been more receptive to President Nikos Christodoulides’ package of eight measures that he submitted when the pair met last month, while also criticising Christodoulides for his “take it or leave it approach”.

“We saw Tatar brought up the Louroujina and Mia Milia crossing points, while Christodoulides presented different suggestions. Tatar should not have said, ‘we are going to talk about crossing points, where did the youth committee come from?’ and Christodoulides should not have said, ‘I gave you eight suggestions, accept them all or accept none.

“The issue is reaching an agreement on a subject. Each new crossing point will be a comforting step for both Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots. There is no harm in establishing a technical committee on youth which will bring relations between the two communities closer,” he said.

He then called for an end to “primitive approaches” in talks between the island’s two sides, saying they should be “consigned to history”.

“It is important that Christodoulides approach the process sincerely. There is no point insisting that all eight measures be implemented. At least manage to start this process. However, we are seeing that even the smallest steps have become impossible to take,” he said.

Looking at the broader picture of the Cyprus problem, he described the current status quo as “unsustainable”, and said the domestic policy of the north’s ruling coalition, with which Tatar is aligned, “cannot be evaluated separately” from Tatar’s own stance on the Cyprus problem.

“The Cyprus problem is directly related to the issue of the economy shifting south. Developments in the construction and tourism sectors are part of the Cyprus problem. All issues from security issues to population policies are intertwined with the Cyprus problem,” he said.

He then added that these domestic matters “will also need to be discussed” during the campaign ahead of this October’s Turkish Cypriot leadership election.

“Today, we have to grasp the seriousness of the situation in which we find ourselves. However, we see that the vision is so short-term that the only thought some have has been reduced to the question of ‘how can I stay in office?’. Everyone needs to understand the seriousness of this situation,” he said.