Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) President Tufan Erhürman spoke to broadcaster BRT after meeting UN Secretary-General António Guterres in New York during the 81st UN General Assembly. “While we are working on confidence-building measures, at exactly the same time we are facing approaches that further erode the existing trust,” he said.
Erhürman cited the cancellation of festivals and sports events, obstacles on property and immovable assets, and what he called partisan decisions taken within the EU. He also criticized Greek Cypriot initiatives at the UN Security Council, saying they wanted to be the only ones telling the international community about developments on the Cyprus issue while obstacles were placed in the Turkish Cypriots’ way.
He said the meeting with Guterres covered seven confidence-building measures: crossing points, demining, disaster response and irregular migration mechanisms, civil society coordination, sports activities and EU citizenship rights for newborn children. “We are completely on the same line as the secretary-general,” he said.
After the meeting, Erhürman said the Turkish Cypriot side had accepted six of the seven confidence-building measures on the table: crossing points, demining, a joint disaster-response mechanism, joint efforts against irregular migration, a civil society coordination board and sports activities. The item on EU citizenship for children of mixed marriages was not among them. He said a 2+1 meeting had not been vetoed but the delegations had not reached agreement, adding: “We continue to support the Secretary-General’s efforts.”
