Turkish Cypriot leader sets rotating presidency as condition for UN talks

NICOSIA

Turkish Cypriot President Erhürman speaks to press in Nicosia on Oct 1.

Turkish Cypriot President Tufan Erhürman has said he is ready to attend a trilateral meeting with the United Nations if Greek Cypriot leader Nikos Christodoulides agrees unconditionally to a rotating presidency, as the U.N. prepares to host talks on Nov. 9.

“If he agrees to a rotating presidency without any preconditions, I am ready to attend immediately,” Erhürman said during an interwivet with BRT late on Oct. 21.

The leader noted that he had relayed the proposal through U.N. envoy Maria Angela Holguin but had yet to receive a response.

The rotating presidency remains a key component of Turkish Cypriot demands for political equality.

Erhürman’s remarks come ahead of the planned U.N.-facilitated meeting, the first trilateral gathering in months, amid a prolonged stalemate over confidence-building measures.

He stressed that political equality was non-negotiable, arguing that the rotating presidency should not be made conditional on security arrangements or guarantees.

He said he had informed the Greek Cypriot side through Holguin that he was willing to travel to New York for trilateral talks if the parties could reach an understanding on two or three specific issues.
However, he said, the proposal had not received a favorable response.

“I am not interested in meetings that achieve nothing or are held merely for appearances. I want tangible progress,” Erhürman said. “My aim is to negotiate a solution, not to negotiate simply for the sake of it.”

Cyprus has remained divided for decades, despite repeated U.N.-led efforts to broker a comprehensive settlement between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots.

Efforts to resolve the dispute have continued intermittently in recent years, including U.N.-sponsored negotiations in Switzerland in 2017 that collapsed despite the involvement of the three guarantor powers — Türkiye, Greece and the United Kingdom.

The Greek Cypriot administration joined the European Union in 2004, the same year Greek Cypriots rejected a U.N.-backed reunification plan in a referendum, preventing its implementation across the island.