Erhürman says he will join talks immediately if Christodoulides accepts rotating presidency

President Tufan Erhürman criticised the stance of Greek Cypriot leader Nikos Christodoulides as the Cyprus issue reached its latest stage. Erhürman said the expected progress on the seven confidence-building measures proposed by UN Secretary-General António Guterres had not been achieved, and stated that he opposes showcase talks.

Erhürman said Christodoulides had come to the table with 19 new proposals that did not include the seven measures, and that they were conveyed orally rather than in writing. He said he was not opposed to discussing the new proposals, but that the priority was concrete progress on the seven measures, which he said the Greek Cypriot side had not shown the will to achieve.

Regarding a trilateral meeting in New York, Erhürman said he had told UN Secretary-General’s Personal Envoy María Ángela Holguín that he was ready to attend if there was a likelihood of agreement on two or three concrete issues, but received no positive response. He also said he would join a trilateral meeting immediately if Christodoulides accepted the rotating presidency in principle and without linking it to other issues, but no answer came. “I do not want a showcase meeting,” he said.