‘I am more hopeful about a Cyprus solution than I was before Guterres came’

Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman on Wednesday said that he is now “more hopeful” that a solution to the Cyprus problem can be achieved than he was before United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres arrived on the island at the beginning of the week. “I see Guterres’ visit to the island as important and positive. I think Guterres’ visit has demonstrated to those here the extent of his interest in the Cyprus problem,” Erhurman said upon his return to his official residence following the day’s trilateral meeting with Guterres and President Nikos Christodoulides. He added that “a second point which underlines its importance is the delegation he brought with him”, before stressing that “the delegation included people at the highest level within the UN’s bureaucracy” – undersecretary-general for peacebuilding Rosemary DiCarlo and his undersecretary-general for peace operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix. “A third important point is that he met both Christodoulides in the south and my delegation in the north. This means that the position of two equal leaders under the UN umbrella was reiterated,” he said. The fourth “important point”, he said, is that “the meetings were held in Nicosia”. This had been a point he had stressed at great length immediately following his election last year, lamenting that enlarged meetings had been held in Geneva and New York with no result, while it would be more convenient for all for the leaders to meet in Cyprus. “Although there were not many concrete outcomes, I believe the visit was important and positive in terms of its results,” he said, before stressing the importance of confidence-building measures between the island’s two sides. “From the very beginning, I emphasised that if negotiations were to be established, it would be important to take some positive steps regarding confidence-building measures,” he said. He added that “on the other hand, as Guterres said, we were also saying that this time, things need to be different”, and said that the Turkish Cypriot side had presented his four-point plan for negotiations to restart in earnest “as the methodology”. “We have always said that we cannot arrive at a solution unless we lay the foundations correctly. Laying those foundations correctly means making meaningful progress in the confidence-building measures and the methodology. Therefore, this has been confirmed to some extent by Guterres’ approach in the meetings and his recent statements,” he said. He also pointed out that Guterres has held contacts with representatives of the governments of Cyprus’ guarantor powers in recent weeks, and also “emphasised his confidence in their continued support”. “He also stated that he had reached an agreement with the guarantors regarding a five-plus-one meeting, provided that the sufficient preparations are made,” he said. The term “five-plus-one” is used to describe an enlarged meeting on the Cyprus problem, involving the island’s two sides, its three guarantor powers, Greece, Turkey and the United Kingdom, and the UN. On this front, Erhurman stressed that “it is clear that the secretary-general continued this process in close contact with the guarantors”, and said to this end that “we, too, will continue to conduct this process in very close and full consultation with the Republic of Turkey, a guarantor country, as we have done until now”. “We have been saying from the very beginning that we do not want negotiations for the sake of negotiations, or a five-plus-one meeting for the sake of a five-plus-one meeting. If there is to be a five-plus-one meeting, we want it to be one which guarantees results, and if there are to be negotiations, we want them to be negotiations which will lead us to a solution,” he said. He said that this position was “emphasised in Guterres’ press conference”. “Guterres also said that he wants to hold a successful five-plus-one meeting which will pave the way for a solution. Therefore, I find it positive that the focus on results has been so clearly underlined,” he said. He also stressed that the day’s trilateral meeting was “the first time I have seen a roadmap in front of me”, with an enlarged meeting to be convened after progress locally, and as such said that all parties should “avoid actions which undermine confidence while working on confidence-building measures and the methodology”. This was in reference to the matters of property-related arrests made by the Greek Cypriot side, as well as hopes for new crossing points to be opened, with Erhurman stating that these two matters are also intrinsically linked. “If, while trying to open new crossing points, an environment is created in which people are afraid to cross, the crossing points may become effectively meaningless,” he said. Additionally, he said he had raised at the tripartite meeting the international isolations faced by the Turkish Cypriot side, before stressing that “a solution in Cyprus is key for regional peace”. He also confirmed that he, like Christodoulides, will meet the European Commission’s Cyprus problem envoy Raffaele Fitto on Friday.