Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) President Tufan Erhürman made statements following the trilateral meeting hosted by Greek Cypriot Administration (GCA) leader Nikos Christodoulides and Maria Angela Holguin, the Personal Envoy of the UN Secretary-General on Cyprus.
Holding a press conference at the TRNC Presidency, Erhürman stated that they attended the meeting with a package consisting of "bridge-building proposals" for confidence-building measures that had been discussed previously but could not be concluded. Stating that the package did not consist of new demands but rather a search for consensus among the parties' existing proposals, Erhürman said, "All the proposals agreed upon came out of our package."
Erhürman emphasized that he did not want to engage in a debate over whose proposals were accepted, but stated that the results reached consisted of the topics presented by the TRNC side. He used the words, "If you look at the results, they all came out of the proposals we presented as bridge-building proposals. There is not even a single proposal outside of this."
CONSENSUS ON CONFIDENCE-BUILDING MEASURES
According to Erhürman, the issue of establishing a joint response mechanism for disasters was discussed at the meeting. Stating that the TRNC side based its position on the written proposal submitted by the GCA in March 2025, Erhürman said that the detailed mechanism was not discussed, but an agreement was reached to task the relevant technical committee with developing the mechanism.
Explaining that the proposal to establish a mechanism for direct communication on military issues and to cooperate on demining efforts was not accepted, Erhürman stated that they were ready to accept the study presented by the UN on May 1, 2020. He also conveyed that the Greek Cypriot side stated they needed more time for the EduBites study prepared by the Technical Committee on Education.
In contrast, a consensus was reached on restarting the Imagine program. Erhürman said they proposed that the program be conducted under the management and supervision of the Technical Committee on Education and that children be able to participate regardless of their citizenship status, and that this topic was included in the joint statement.
Stating that a consensus was also reached on the mutual sharing of historical artifacts, information, documents, and archival materials within the scope of the Technical Committee on Cultural Heritage, Erhürman noted that they were ready to implement the work that had been pending for a long time.
CROSSING POINTS AND NEW MEETING SCHEDULE
One of the important topics of the meeting was new crossing points. Erhürman explained that they presented a four-stage proposal to the Greek Cypriot side; topics such as the Kiracıköy-Athienou-Eğlence route, Haspolat, Gemikonağı, and access to Pile were on the table.
Erhürman stated that the proposal they submitted in the final stage for the opening of the Akıncılar and Kambos-Gemikonağı crossing points was accepted, saying, "As of today, it has been agreed upon the opening of the crossing points we call Akıncılar and Kambos-Gemikonağı. But the others were not abandoned. All of them were left to the trilateral meeting."
Stating that a new trilateral meeting with the participation of the UN Secretary-General is expected to be held within weeks, Erhürman announced that all of the crossing points and the issue of access to Pile would be re-evaluated at this meeting. He stated that work at the technical level would continue during this process.
Erhürman also stated that they presented a new proposal at the meeting that had not been previously disclosed to the public, adding that it could be a "game changer." Expressing that he would not share the details of the proposal for now, Erhürman said he wanted to give Christodoulides time for evaluation.
Referring to the stagnation experienced after the process that ended without results in Crans-Montana in 2017, Erhürman described the progress made in the last meeting as "modest but forward-looking steps." Emphasizing that a new negotiation process should not repeat the failures of the past, Erhürman said, "We do not want negotiations just for the sake of negotiations. We want negotiations that will lead us to a solution."
Responding to a question regarding consultations with Turkey, Erhürman said that the four-point negotiation methodology he put forward on the Cyprus issue was discussed with Turkey. Erhürman argued that the Greek Cypriot side must demonstrate at the beginning of the process that it is ready to share its political power and the island's wealth with Turkish Cypriots.
News Source: 12punto
