President Nikos Christodoulides on Sunday accused Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman of attempting to set “preconditions” on the resumption of negotiations to solve the Cyprus problem, in reaction to the Turkish Cypriot side’s insistence on a rotating presidency between the two communities in a post-solution Cyprus.
“It is clear that the Turkish side … is setting terms and preconditions for the resumption of talks. They are demanding that we accept, in advance, specific positions of interest to the Turkish Cypriot community, while showing absolutely no willingness to discuss or accept our own positions on other significant aspects of the Cyprus problem,” he said.
He added that “it is for this reason that I have repeatedly stated that all these issues must be discussed at the negotiating table”.
“In my view, setting terms and preconditions prior to the resumption of negotiations is a tactic which does not facilitate progress,” he said, before adding that the Turkish Cypriot side’s view is “particularly revealing” as it “sheds light on why the talks have not yet resumed” and “highlights one of the primary reasons for this continued delay”.
Asked to comment on Erhurman’s remark that he had not received any formal proposal of Christodoulides’ 19 new points for discussion on the Cyprus problem, he said that “I never claimed the proposals were submitted in writing”.
“They were submitted orally. He is aware of these 19 very specific proposals. He has already addressed some, while others remain to be addressed. The National Council is also very well informed about these 19 proposals,” he said.
On this front, he added that a member of the National Council had said during Saturday night’s bicommunal festival in Pyla that the 19 points had been conveyed orally and not in writing. The content of those 19 points have not yet been made publicly known.
Varosha ‘among’ Christodoulides’ 19 new points
Then asked about reports that one of the 19 points included a proposal for the future of the fenced off area of Varosha, he said that “I can state publicly that the issue of the fenced off area of Varosha is among the specific matters we have raised”.
“It was one of the topics we discussed in detail with the UN secretary-general in New York recently, and it is included in the letter I sent to the UN secretary-general. I do not wish to say anything further. We will address the matter as developments unfold,” he said.
He then added that he holds a “firm belief” that “only the resumption of negotiations will demonstrate, in practice, who truly possesses the will to resolve the Cyprus problem”, and that in this, he is “referring to all parties involved, not just the two communities, but also the guarantor powers, and specifically the role of Turkey”.
Asked about the Turkish Cypriot side’s reticence to engage in “open-ended” negotiations, he said that “everything depends on the starting point”.
“If they resume from where things were left off at Crans-Montana, we are well aware of the points of disagreement and the issues which need to be addressed. Furthermore, it is clear that the time required would be less. If some seek to start from the beginning, no one can say how long it will take,” he said.
He was then asked about the fact that Erhurman had elected not to reply to his comments on the Cyprus problem upon his arrival in Pyla on Saturday, with it having been understood that Erhurman had elected not to speak “so as to not ruin the atmosphere” of the day.
“I cannot know why the Turkish Cypriot leader did not make any statements. He did not mention anything to me during the event. I am unaware of his reasons, and I do not believe I said anything which would justify any sense of annoyance,” he said.
Dana: Rotating presidency an indispensable component of political equality
The rotating presidency is viewed by the Turkish Cypriot side as being fundamental to the political equality between Cyprus’ two major communities which is stipulated by United Nations resolutions.
Erhurman’s undersecretary Mehmet Dana had told the Cyprus Mail that it is an “indispensable component” of political equality, saying that “political equality forms the foundation of a structure requiring the joint exercise of a limited number of specific powers, shared competences, and this is not open to negotiation”.
He added that the “primary reason” for the collapse of previous rounds of negotiations on the Cyprus problem, and “specifically” those between Nicos Anastasiades and Mustafa Akinci at Crans-Montana in 2017, was that “political equality was made a subject of negotiation and subsequently used to cause a deadlock in the process”.
Therefore, he said, “guided by the [United Nations] secretary-general’s approach that ‘this time must be different’, acceptance of this issue in principle must occur prior to the commencement of the negotiation process”.
“Naturally, once the rotating presidency is accepted in principle, the specific terms, such as the duration of the respective tenures and other details, would be negotiated once the talks actually begin,” he said.