Erhürman: “I’ll Meet If There’s Progress on Guterres’ Seven Points”

Speaking at a press conference at the Presidency following his contacts in New York during the opening week of the 81st UN General Assembly, Erhürman said the focus should be on achieving concrete progress rather than holding meetings for their own sake.

“Christodoulides Came With 19 New Proposals”

Erhürman said Guterres had given him and Christodoulides seven “pieces of homework” during his recent visit to Cyprus, covering crossing points, mine clearance, a joint disaster response mechanism, combating irregular migration, a civil society consultative body, sports and citizenship for children of mixed marriages.

He said the two sides had held three meetings to discuss the proposals, but Christodoulides had brought 19 new proposals to the latest meeting “as if the seven points did not exist.”

According to Erhürman, this meant there had been no progress on the issues set out by Guterres.

“Seven CBMs are on the table, and these are Guterres’ proposals. Even though I have my own proposals, we wanted to put our own demands aside and make progress within Guterres’ framework,” Erhürman said.

He added that, apart from the issue of crossing points, his side had accepted the remaining six proposals as a basis for discussion, while Christodoulides had not accepted any of the seven and instead presented 19 new proposals.

“Christodoulides’ aim in New York was to give Guterres 19 new points and put Guterres’ seven proposals aside,” Erhürman said.

“The Trilateral Meeting Was Not on the Agenda”

Erhürman said the possibility of a trilateral meeting had not been raised during his September 24 meeting with Holguin.

He said Christodoulides had proposed a trilateral meeting through Holguin on September 5. On the same day, Presidential Undersecretary Mehmet Dâna met with UN Assistant Secretary-General Rosemary DiCarlo, but the issue was not raised there either.

Erhürman added that Dâna and Greek Cypriot negotiator Menelaos Menelaou later met with Holguin in New York, but a future trilateral meeting between the leaders was not discussed during that meeting either.

He said Holguin subsequently raised the proposal with him.

“I told her: We have seven pieces of homework. If there is a possibility of agreement on some of them and if Guterres has time, I will participate in such a meeting,” Erhürman said.

He added that Holguin had not given an immediate response but had said she would convey his position.

“Rotating Presidency Is Not a Confidence-Building Measure”

Erhürman said Holguin had also asked whether he would accept Christodoulides’ request for a meeting based on the possibility of reaching an agreement on rotating presidency.

He rejected the idea of discussing rotating presidency as part of the CBM process.

“Rotating presidency is directly linked to political equality. While we have a principle that could produce results, it is wrong to treat rotating presidency, which is a substantive issue, as a confidence-building measure,” he said.

Responding to reports in the Greek Cypriot press claiming that “Erhürman vetoed Guterres’ request for a meeting,” he said the proposal had come from Christodoulides.

“The seven pieces of homework before us are clear. If there is even a possibility of agreement on some of them, I will meet. But if rotating presidency is to be treated as a confidence-building measure, I cannot accept that. This is an issue linked to substance and political equality,” he said.

“We Didn’t Go to New York to Meet Christodoulides”

Erhürman also referred to Guterres’ September 16 remarks that “the conditions have not yet been created for a successful meeting” and that he did not want to repeat mistakes made in the past.

“We did not go to New York to meet Christodoulides,” Erhürman said.

He said the Turkish Cypriot delegation arrived in New York on September 23 and that, on the same day, the Greek Cypriot Permanent Representation sent a letter requesting that Turkish Cypriot officials not be given appointments. He said the letter had also been circulated to permanent missions and international organisations.

“Meeting for the Sake of Meeting Makes No Sense”

Erhürman said that, with Guterres’ term nearing its end, holding a meeting based solely on the 19 new proposals would amount to “negotiating for the sake of negotiating” and would serve little purpose beyond producing a photograph.

“The idea that the more photographs are taken and the more meetings are held, the better is wrong,” he said.

“Those who said after the meetings in Nicosia produced no results that ‘it would have been better if they had not met’ are now saying, when a potentially inconclusive meeting in New York did not take place, ‘they did not even meet.’”