**Erhurman Meets Predecessors as Cyprus Problem Negotiations Intensify**
Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman held a significant meeting on Friday with three of his four living predecessors—Mehmet Ali Talat, Mustafa Akinci, and Ersin Tatar. This gathering comes amid heightened efforts to revive negotiations aimed at resolving the longstanding Cyprus problem, both on the island and internationally.
The discussions, however, were conducted behind closed doors, with no official statements released regarding their content. Erhurman's office did confirm that a planned meeting with former Turkish Cypriot leader Dervish Eroglu was postponed due to health issues affecting Eroglu, who is currently 88 years old.
The timing of these meetings is crucial, as President Nikos Christodoulides is expected to convene the National Council next week. Additionally, United Nations envoy Maria Angela Holguin is scheduled to visit Brussels in the coming days to engage with European Union leaders. Holguin has recently traveled to Ankara and Athens, meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and Greek Foreign Minister Giorgos Gerapetritis, and was in Cyprus last week for discussions with both Christodoulides and Erhurman.
Holguin is anticipated to return to Cyprus before the end of the month, with plans for an enlarged meeting on the Cyprus issue involving both sides of the island, the three guarantor powers—Greece, Turkey, and the United Kingdom—and the UN. This meeting is tentatively set for late July or early August.
The renewed efforts come as the UN embarks on a "new initiative" aimed at facilitating the resumption of formal negotiations. Both Erhurman and Christodoulides have emphasized the importance of achieving tangible results from the upcoming enlarged meeting. Christodoulides stated that the objective is to lead to a meeting where the resumption of talks will be formally announced.
In a related development, Erhurman convened a meeting with Turkish Cypriot political parties earlier this week, underscoring the need for concrete outcomes from the next discussions. He remarked, “It should not be a five-plus-one just for the sake of a five-plus-one. It should be a five-plus-one so that results are achieved,” highlighting the desire for meaningful progress.
In a broader context, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan held a telephone conversation on Monday to discuss the Cyprus issue, shortly after Fidan's meeting with Holguin. High-level sources indicated that Erdogan has endorsed the UN's new initiative, expressing the view that the lack of a solution to the Cyprus problem has adversely affected Turkey in recent decades, despite its efforts.
The sources further noted that Turkey’s support for both the 2004 referendum and the 2017 negotiations—both of which were rejected by the Greek Cypriot side—demonstrates Erdogan’s pragmatic and constructive approach, as well as his willingness to engage in dialogue with the hope of achieving a resolution to the Cyprus problem.
As these diplomatic efforts unfold, the focus remains on fostering an environment conducive to negotiations that could finally address the complexities of the Cyprus situation, which has persisted for decades.