Erhürman: Solution Climate Requires Equal Partnership

In an assessment of Greek Cypriot leader Nikos Christodoulides’ New Year message and recent developments, Erhürman said there was a serious contradiction between the rhetoric on resolving the Cyprus problem and the practices on the ground.

Erhürman’s full statement reads as follows:

“Mr Christodoulides once again stated in his New Year message that resolving the Cyprus problem is his top priority.

At the same time, however, the ‘defence and energy cooperation’ being advanced with Greece and Israel has, through various statements, taken the shape of an ‘anti-Turkey axis’. With 2026, the ‘Israel–Cyprus electricity interconnection’ has once again come onto the agenda.

For a long time, we have been saying that energy cooperation between Cyprus, Turkey and Greece is one of the most important sources of motivation for a solution to the Cyprus problem. Solutions are achieved not by creating or fuelling antagonisms, but by building cooperation.

A ‘climate for solution’ is not fostered by acting as if Turkish Cypriots do not exist, but through approaches that clearly demonstrate that Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots are accepted as equal partners.

These are, of course, approaches that would come into play if the solution of the Cyprus problem were genuinely regarded as a priority.

The solution itself needs a preceding environment — a ‘climate for solution’. And everyone who says they want a solution is expected to contribute to the creation of this climate not only through words, but also through actions.

We will, of course, continue our proposals and contributions aimed at creating a climate for solution, in line with our people’s will for a settlement.

As I have said before, if this is to be done fairly and if there is to be any ‘measurement and evaluation’, everyone’s ‘will for a solution’ must be assessed not only by what is said and done at the negotiating table, but also by what is done — and not done — outside it.”