Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhürman has confirmed for the first time that he rejected a proposal by President Nikos Christodoulides to place the fenced-off area of Varosha under United Nations administration in exchange for opening Famagusta port to direct trade under European Union supervision.
Speaking on the Turkish Cypriot television channel Genç yesterday evening, Erhürman argued that the proposal was unbalanced and failed to address what he considers the central issue: the implementation of the EU’s Direct Trade Regulation.
“Famagusta port is open. Famagusta port is not closed. The problem with our ports is that we cannot conduct direct trade with the European Union,” he said.
Erhürman questions the balance of the proposal
Erhürman said he had asked Christodoulides whether the Direct Trade Regulation would come into force and received a negative answer.
He questioned why the transfer of Varosha to UN administration should be exchanged for an arrangement that would not enable direct trade with the EU.
“Why is this being made a trade-off for handing Varosha over to UN administration? Are these balanced things?” he asked.
According to Erhürman, the proposal is not new. He said the same formula was put forward in 2006, during the term of former Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat, who rejected it.
“Twenty years have passed. It is returning as a new formula after 20 years,” Erhürman said, adding that he could not accept it.
Dispute over Christodoulides’ 19 proposals
Erhürman also said he had not received a written document containing the 19 proposals that Christodoulides has referred to, claiming he had only heard some of them orally.
“He mentioned only a few things verbally. I took notes. When I counted them, I never reached 19 proposals,” he said.
He added that revealing the proposals would not be consistent with diplomatic protocol and said Christodoulides could disclose them if he wished. Erhürman said he would discuss them once they were made public.
He confirmed, however, that he had already accepted some suggestions, including a joint visit to Pyla and meetings of the Technical Committees on Youth, Cultural Heritage and Civil Society.
Why the New York meeting did not take place
Addressing the proposed trilateral meeting in New York that did not take place, Erhürman said he had not attended because the initiative came from Christodoulides rather than UN Secretary-General António Guterres.
He said he had made his participation conditional on the prospect of agreement on the UN secretary-general’s seven confidence-building measures, or on the Greek Cypriot side accepting rotating presidency without linking it to security and guarantees.
According to Erhürman, neither condition was met.
“Are we holding a meeting so that he can say, ‘I accept rotating presidency in exchange for security and guarantees’, or is it simply an opportunity for a photo?” he asked.
Erhürman reiterated that he would not enter formal negotiations without agreement on the methodology and substantive progress on confidence-building measures.
He stressed the importance of continuing dialogue with Christodoulides, the EU, the UN and the diplomatic community, saying the objective of these contacts should be tangible progress towards a settlement of the Cyprus problem.
Rejecting criticism that he was avoiding negotiations, he said meetings mattered because of the results they produced, rather than for their own sake.
“I am not leaving the negotiating table at all,” he said.
Property arrests and citizenship applications
Erhürman also criticised legal proceedings by the Republic of Cyprus against individuals accused of usurping Greek Cypriot properties in the occupied north, describing them as the “instrumentalisation of law for political purposes”. He referred to the operation of the north’s Immovable Property Commission.
On children born to mixed marriages who face difficulties obtaining Republic of Cyprus identity documents, he said the issue had been included in human rights reports by the UN and the EU.
He noted that the matter also forms part of the seven confidence-building measures put forward by Guterres and said proceedings had begun at the European Court of Human Rights in a related application.
Regarding relations with Turkey, Erhürman said he remained in full coordination with the Turkish government and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan over the four-point methodology he advocates for a Cyprus settlement.
Also read: Cyprus talks trilateral meeting set for 9 November
For more videos and updates, check out our YouTube channel
