Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman on Wednesday accused President Nikos Christodoulides of “disregarding his interlocutor” in his assertions that he is ready to meet Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to discuss the Cyprus problem with him.

“On behalf of the Turkish Cypriot people, I want to state clearly once again that this approach, which disregards his interlocutor and the Turkish Cypriot people, who are on equal footing in all negotiations under the United Nations umbrella, does not in any way help to create a climate for a solution on the island,” he wrote in a post on social media.

He added that “on the contrary, it undermines mutual trust”.

“The Turkish Cypriot people exist. They are one of the two equal founding partners on the island, and we will not tolerate them being ignored or treated as if they do not exist through statements or agreements,” he said.

Christodoulides had told French newspaper Le Figaro on Tuesday that “if Turkey is ready, I am prepared to meet its president to discuss the Cyprus issue and reach a negotiated settlement”.

He added that “it is not Cyprus which does not recognise Turkey, but rather Turkey which is currently the only country which does not recognise the Republic of Cyprus”.

As such, he said, he is “ready to meet President Erdogan”, adding “I extend an invitation to him here”.

Earlier, a top Turkish official speaking on the condition of anonymity had told the Cyprus Mail that “the Greek Cypriots’ only interlocutor is the TRNC” in response to claims that the Turkish government had attempted to “exclude” Cyprus from the summit on the future of Gaza which was held in the Egyptian city of Sharm El-Sheikh in October.

The official said those claims had no correlation with the truth, and added that “we do not do diplomacy in public”, while also pointing out that Erdogan has “not shied away from meeting” Christodoulides in the past.

On this matter, they made reference to the fact that the pair had sat around the same coffee table on the sidelines of a European Political Community summit in Budapest last year.