Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman on Saturday met United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on the sidelines of the UN general assembly in New York, and afterwards denied assertions made by the Greek Cypriot side that he had rejected the offer of a tripartite meeting with Guterres and President Nikos Christodoulides.
“Since yesterday, a perception operation has been carried out alleging that we rejected a tripartite meeting. The Greek Cypriot side tried to prevent our meetings by writing to our interlocutors. We see this as something which erodes trust,” he told Turkish Cypriot public broadcaster BRT after meeting Guterres.
He added that his undersecretary Mehmet Dana “held talks with representatives of some countries”, but said that the main issue with the Greek Cypriot side’s attempts to prevent Turkish Cypriot officials from meeting representatives of other governments “is that it also reveals the problems in political equality”.
“They want only to be able to explain the Cyprus issue themselves. We had the opportunity to explain this to the secretary-general,” he said.
Asked about the assertions that he had turned down the chance to hold a tripartite meeting, he said that “if there had been any result of substance” from the various talks held in New York this week or from his three meetings with Christodoulides since July, “the secretary-general would be insistent on holding a tripartite meeting”.
“If the secretary-general wanted a tripartite meeting and I refused it, there would be no meeting with the secretary-general. We will continue to work within the framework set by the secretary-general,” he said.
On the matter of what was discussed with Guterres, he pointed out the seven issues upon which Guterres had demanded that progress be made – crossing points, mine clearance, the citizenship of children born of “mixed marriages”, sports, joint disaster response, and a joint mechanism to combat irregular migration.
He said the Turkish Cypriot side has accepted proposals on six of those issues, but lamented that “the Greek Cypriot side has instead taken initiatives which erode trust, instead of focusing on confidence-building measures”.
“Among these are festival cancellations, the cancellation of the FC Barcelona football camp, practices regarding property, initiatives taken against the Immovable Property Commission, biased decisions taken at the European Parliament, agreements with Israelis, initiatives which put Turkish Cypriots at risk,” he said.
Greek Cypriot side sent letter urging diplomats not to meet Turkish Cypriots
His meeting with Guterres was the last of a turbulent week for the Cyprus problem, with the island’s two sides ending the UN’s “high-level week” no closer than they started it, despite a flurry of meetings involving the two sides, the three guarantor powers, Greece, Turkey, and the United Kingdom, and the UN.
On Friday night, the Cyprus Mail was told by Greek Cypriot diplomatic sources that Erhurman “did not consent” to the holding of a tripartite meeting, while the newspaper was also informed of a letter sent to the permanent representatives to the UN of all its member states asking them not to meet Turkish Cypriots.
The letter warned them that the Cypriot government had acquired “information that representatives of the secessionist entity are currently in New York seeking meetings to promote their secessionist policies”.
“The permanent mission of the Republic of Cyprus respectfully requests the esteemed permanent missions and observer missions to refrain from any contact or meetings with representatives of the secessionist entity, in accordance with the relevant resolutions of the United Nations security council,” it said.
Meanwhile, at home, Turkish Cypriot Nicosia mayor Mehmet Harmanci withdrew from the Cyprus Forum after the forum’s organisers had changed changed his title from “mayor” to “leader of the Turkish Cypriot community in Nicosia”, with Greek Cypriot Nicosia mayor Charalambos Prountzos and many others then also withdrawing from the event.
The forum’s executive president Nicolas Kyriakides then told the Cyprus Mail that the request to do so came from inside the government.
“We … received official requests from officials pointing out that [referring to Harmanci as a mayor] is not accepted by the Greek Cypriot side,” Kyriakides told the Cyprus Mail on Friday.
Harmanci said of Prountzos’ decision to also withdraw from the event that “what is newsworthy about the recent events surrounding the Cyprus Forum is not my withdrawal, it is my dear friend, Mayor Charalambos Prountzos’ solidarity”.
No progress made despite flurry of meetings
The lack of progress made this week comes despite various meetings having been held on the Cyprus problem, with Christodoulides, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan having all met Guterres earlier in the week.
Additionally, Christodoulides, Erhurman, and Greek Foreign Minister Giorgos Gerapetritis all met UN Cyprus problem envoy Maria Angela Holguin, while Erdogan also met British Prime Minister Andy Burnham, who, in turn, later met Christodoulides.
Prior to this week, the two sides had been in open disagreement over the meaning of political equality, crossing points, and the methodology of the talks. It is not yet clear whether the leaders will continue to hold weekly meetings, as they had done prior to this week.
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