Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman on Monday said President Nikos Christodoulides has not kept promises he had made regarding confidence-building measures between the island’s two sides.

“Promises were made regarding the matter of halloumi and on crossings at the Astromeritis and Dherynia crossing points, that those matters would be solved by January 31. Unfortunately, they were not kept,” he said at a press conference to mark his 100th day in office.

Those confidence-building measures had been agreed at a tripartite meeting between the two leaders and United Nations envoy Maria Angela Holguin in December, and Erhurman also made reference to her visit to the island last week.

“Holguin came here and said that if solutions are not found in Nicosia, we should not expect an enlarged meeting to take place. That means not only that solutions can be found in Nicosia, but that the UN expects solutions to be found in Nicosia,” he said, adding that in his view, an enlarged meeting cannot be held “without an atmosphere of trust”.

On this front, he also reiterated his doubts regarding the true reasons behind Christodoulides’ alleged opposition to the staging of a bicommunal children’s football match.

He had earlier stated that Christodoulides had rejected the proposition as international footballing governing bodies had stood in the way, but said that the point of the proposition was not the football, and that if international governing bodies really stood in the way, another sport could have been chosen.

“It could have been basketball, it could have been handball, it could have been another sport,” he said, before pointing out that a children’s handball tournament had taken place in the north last week with teams from Kosovo, Turkey, and Uzbekistan participating, furthering his doubts regarding Christodoulides’ ostensible reasoning.

Later, he stressed that he wished through the realisation of confidence-building measures to “turn the meeting table into a negotiating table”, and said that a solution to the Cyprus problem, “will be to the benefit of everyone”

He also rebuked suggestions that a solution would only benefit Turkish Cypriots when asked about it by television channel Kanal Sim’s Serhat Incirli.

Incirli had charged that the Cyprus problem is a “five-sided matter” and that “four of those sides are states and the fifth is us”, but Erhurman was swift to stress that the Greek Cypriot side also suffers negative consequences from the unresolved nature of the Cyprus problem.

He pointed out the military-based agreements into which the Republic of Cyprus is entering with the likes of the United States and Israel, “and maybe soon India, too”, and later, when pressed on the matter by Turkish public broadcaster TRT’s Sefa Karahasan, said that the reason behind these agreements is the Cyprus problem itself.

We all know Christodoulides “is making all these international links with one aim: to counterbalance the Republic of Turkey in the field of security. What is the source of this? The unresolved nature of the Cyprus problem,” he said.

He added, “I estimate that these types of agreements are not of the nature that he would enter into under normal circumstances, and he knows this”, saying that at present, “southern Cyprus feels a risk, a sense of alarm” at the presence of Turkey in the region.’

He also briefly spoke about the north’s internal politics, with ‘parliament speaker’ Ziya Ozturkler having been accused in court a week ago of having coerced university employees into creating a degree certificate for ‘prime minister’ Unal Ustel’s longtime close personal associate Fatma Unal.

Ozturkler has faced a barrage of calls to resign, but remains unmoved and maintains his innocence. Erhurman said on Thursday he would hold a “short meeting” with Ustel in due course to discuss the matter, and added, “I am of the opinion that the attitudes which should have been taken regarding these developments has not been taken”. 

Additionally, he reiterated his bemusement at European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s “omission” of Turkish Cypriots from her speech at the opening ceremony of Cyprus’ six-month term as the Council of the European Union’s rotating presidency last month.

“She spoke of innovation in the shadow of byzantine churches, as if there are only byzantine churches in Cyprus, but we know that there are also mosques in Cyprus, and there are also catholic churches, too, given that we have Maronites and Latins here,” he said.

Another point of note was his announcement that his office’s website will soon be available in Greek, as well as the currently available Turkish and English.