TRNC President Erhürman: Greek Cypriot side made written attempt to UN to block our meetings

TRNC President Tufan Erhürman made statements following his meeting with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in New York. Stating that the meeting focused primarily on the framework of "confidence-building measures in Cyprus," Erhürman said that Guterres is also focusing on this issue at the current stage.

Reminding that Guterres had brought 7 confidence-building measures to the agenda during his visit to Cyprus, Erhürman noted that crossing points, demining the region, a joint mechanism for disaster response, a joint mechanism for combating irregular migration, coordination regarding civil society, sports activities, and the right to European Union (EU) citizenship for children born from mixed marriages were among the topics in question.

"We have already accepted 6 of the seven proposals"

Stating that the Turkish Cypriot side gave a positive response to the 6 proposals other than the crossing points as soon as they were first brought to the agenda, Erhürman said, "We accepted 6 of these, that is, the 6 that are outside of the crossing points, the moment Mr. Guterres conveyed them to us during the meeting held at the Presidency. We already declared that we accepted this in the subsequent tripartite meeting as well," he said.

Stating that they did not reject the proposals regarding the crossing points, Erhürman said that it was not possible to accept this item in its current form, but that they had previously stated that the proposals could be worked on.

Noting that the Greek Cypriot side later brought new proposals to the agenda, Erhürman stated that the Turkish Cypriot side's approach was to focus on the 7 headings put forward by Guterres. Erhürman said, "There are 7 confidence-building measures that the Secretary-General put forward during his visit to the island. 6 of these have already been accepted by our side. Therefore, there is no point in shifting the focus by expanding the subject further and making it even more difficult to reach a solution. Let us focus on these 7 items and try to produce a solution on these 7 items."

Stating that they conveyed this view to Guterres as well, Erhürman said, "Bringing new proposals after this point is evaluated by our side as an approach that makes it difficult to solve existing proposals and pushes the possibility of achieving results even further away. We shared this view with the Secretary-General at today's meeting," he said.

Expressing that Guterres also clearly demonstrated his expectation of progress on confidence-building measures from the very beginning of the meeting, Erhürman drew attention to the "confidence-building measures, methodology, and substance" sequence previously determined by the UN Secretary-General. Erhürman said, "The Secretary-General clearly stated his expectation of progress on confidence-building measures from the very beginning of the meeting."

"We also conveyed to Guterres the approaches that erode trust"

Stating that they brought to the agenda not only confidence-building measures but also developments that the Turkish Cypriot side considers to be eroding trust, Erhürman said that this situation creates a contradiction in itself. Erhürman said, "While we are working on measures that we call confidence-building or trust-enhancing, we are facing some approaches that erode trust even more during the exact same period. In other words, we are facing some actions or processes that erode trust even to the extent that it exists," he said.

Listing the attempts to cancel festivals, developments regarding the Barcelona Football Club event, European arrest warrants, practices regarding property, attempts targeting the Immovable Property Commission, and decisions taken with the initiatives of Greek Cypriot members of the European Parliament (EP) within this scope, Erhürman said that they also brought some international agreements to Guterres' agenda. Erhürman said, "We have conveyed that while on one hand we are trying to implement confidence-building measures and cannot take a step in this regard, on the other hand, presenting some approaches that erode trust even to the extent that it exists creates a contradiction in itself," he said.

"The Greek Cypriot side made a written attempt to block the contacts of the Turkish delegation"

Stating that the Greek Cypriot side made a written attempt to the UN and the Security Council to prevent the Turkish Cypriot delegation from having contacts with representatives of the international community in New York, Erhürman noted that a similar approach had been experienced in Nicosia before.

Noting that these attempts did not yield results, Erhürman said that the Turkish Cypriot side carried out its contacts with the international community. Erhürman said, "What is important is not who meets with whom or who meets with how many people, but that the approach here actually reveals the difficulties regarding the extension of what we call political equality before the solution," he said.

Emphasizing that the Greek Cypriot side wants only itself to explain the developments regarding the Cyprus issue to the international community, Erhürman said, "These are approaches that put obstacles in front of us explaining it. We had the opportunity to explain these to the Secretary-General at today's meeting," he said.

"The claim that we vetoed the 2+1 meeting is not true"

Touching upon the discussions regarding holding a meeting in the 2+1 format with the leader of the Greek Cypriot Administration (GCA), Nikos Christodoulides, under UN mediation during his New York contacts, Erhürman said that Guterres had previously stated in his statement that the necessary conditions for a 2+1 or 5+1 meeting in New York had not yet been formed. Reminding that Guterres said, "There is still much work to be done," Erhürman drew attention to the UN Secretary-General's words that past mistakes should not be repeated.

Erhürman said, "I reminded the Secretary-General of this statement today and said that I agreed. He used an expression like, 'We must not make the mistakes we have made until today, we must not repeat the mistakes we made in the past.' This is very correct," he said.

Explaining that they investigated whether there was a common ground on confidence-building measures in the meeting held between the delegations of the Turkish and Greek Cypriot sides with the participation of UN officials, Erhürman said that no consensus could be reached on any topic at the end of the meeting. Erhürman said, "As a result of the meeting, it turned out that there was no agreement on any confidence-building measure. Therefore, the possibility of a 2+1 meeting also disappeared," he said.

Stating that there were news reports in the Greek Cypriot press that he had vetoed the 2+1 meeting, Erhürman responded to the claim by saying, "Anyone who knows a little bit about diplomacy probably knows this. If the great UN Secretary-General wanted a 2+1 meeting and I rejected it, the Secretary-General would probably have re-evaluated the point of holding his scheduled meeting with me today. Therefore, the Secretary-General did not say such a thing today anyway, and our meeting took place and concluded just a moment ago."

Stating that Guterres conveyed to them that he would continue to be interested in the Cyprus issue until the end of his term, Erhürman noted that the Turkish Cypriot side would continue to support the efforts of the UN Secretary-General. The TRNC President stated that the process should proceed with the sequence put forward by Guterres and said, "We evaluate the will of the Turkish Cypriot people for a solution as our own mandate."

"We gave our word to the Secretary-General that we will continue to work in line with this approach, starting with confidence-building measures, methodology, and then issues related to the substance, within the framework drawn by the Secretary-General," said Erhürman, adding, "There are seven confidence-building measures. We have already accepted 6 of them. We will all see together what kind of approach the Greek Cypriot side will display from now on."

News Source: İHA