Erhurman: conditions for new 5+1 meeting “not yet met”, heads to New York September 23

Politics Cyprus problemNikos ChristodoulidesTop NewsTufan Erhurman Erhurman: conditions for new 5+1 meeting “not yet met”, heads to New York September 23 Tufan Erhurman Relevant News Cyprus to use Digital Citizen for social media age checks 17 September 2026 Erhurman: conditions for new 5+1 meeting “not yet met”, heads to New York September 23 17 September 2026 Cyprus ranks second globally on healthcare access satisfaction, survey finds 17 September 2026 newsroom 17 September 2026 FacebookXWhatsAppEmailPrintViber Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman said the conditions for a new 5+1 meeting on the Cyprus problem have not yet been met, as he confirmed he will travel to New York on September 23 for separate meetings with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and his personal envoy, Maria Angela Olguin. Speaking after Thursday’s meeting with President Nikos Christodoulides, Erhurman said neither a trilateral meeting involving the two leaders and Guterres nor a new 5+1 meeting was on the agenda. “There was nothing like that on the agenda to begin with,” he said. Erhurman, who described Thursday’s meeting as “better than the last one”, said he expects his discussions in New York to focus substantively on a roadmap for continuing the process. He said Guterres’s comments the previous day that “there is still a lot of work to be done” and that “we cannot repeat the mistakes of the past” were significant. Erhurman said he has argued from the outset that a new 5+1 meeting should not take place simply for its own sake, but should be results-oriented and preceded by progress in Nicosia. He also referred to his earlier comments that the experience of the 2004 referendums and the 2017 Crans-Montana talks should not be repeated, noting that Guterres had used the stronger term “mistakes”. Thursday’s meeting covered both confidence-building measures and the substance of the Cyprus problem, Erhurman said. Christodoulides presented some new ideas and Erhurman set out his own views in response. Erhurman said efforts to develop confidence-building measures should also avoid steps that undermine the existing atmosphere of trust. He again cited the cancellation of two festivals, the Barcelona academy event, the reaction to Mehmet Dana’s meeting with foreign ambassadors in the buffer zone and decisions by the European Parliament. He said he had raised all of these issues with both the EU and the UN. He stressed that he is not opposed to a new 5+1 meeting, but said the necessary preparations in Nicosia must first be completed and sufficient groundwork laid for it to produce results. “For now, the conditions for a new 5+1 meeting have not been met,” he said. Erhurman also said the Turkish Cypriot side has agreed to six of the seven points raised by the UN Secretary-General during his visit to Cyprus at the end of July. He identified the seven points as new crossing points, demining, joint mechanisms for dealing with natural disasters and irregular migration, sport, EU citizenship for children of mixed marriages and the structure of a mechanism concerning civil society. The only issue on which there is still no agreement is the opening of new crossing points, he said. On citizenship for children of mixed marriages, Erhurman said “competent bodies” on the Greek Cypriot side, which he did not identify, had described the matter as a “humanitarian issue”. He called that a small step forward, while reiterating that the Turkish Cypriot side considers it a human rights issue. “There is still no agreement on one of these, namely new crossing points. As a result, we are ready to further assess all seven issues. We have already accepted six of them,” he said. Erhurman said there is currently no agreement either on confidence-building measures or on methodology. “There isn’t even agreement on the first of the four points we had put forward,” he said. “But we will keep looking for a solution, because for us, ‘non-solution is a solution’ is not an approach.” Asked what the two leaders’ frequent meetings were achieving, Erhurman said they were meeting precisely in an effort to produce results. He described the meetings as “not a negotiating table, but a table for dialogue, where the two sides listen to each other’s views”. Erhurman also highlighted Guterres’s statement that the UN was not giving up on Cyprus, saying the process remained within the UN framework. He said that if the Secretary-General and Olguin take on a facilitating role on issues that remain unresolved, this could have a positive impact on the discussions in Cyprus. “I expect that they will make such an effort. I therefore believe the meetings in New York will be substantive, at least in terms of presenting a roadmap for the process going forward,” he said. (Information from Cyprus News Agency) Subscribe to our Newsletter Latest News Cyprus to use Digital Citizen for social media age checks Cyprus ranks second globally on healthcare access satisfaction, survey finds Key prosecution witness completes lengthy testimony in Phedonos rape trial Civil Registry and Children’s Commissioner drove ID parent-name removal, minister says Christodoulides to address UN General Assembly, meet Guterres during New York visit ‘Europe and Canada are stronger together’: Carney pushes for deeper EU alliance EU Parliament backs tougher rules to protect children from social media risks Follow en.philenews on Google News and be the first to know all the news about Cyprus and the world.