Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman has said that he will “immediately” accept the opening of formal negotiations with the aim of resolving the Cyprus problem if his counterpart, President Nikos Christodoulides, unconditionally accepts that there be a rotating presidency in a post-solution Cyprus.

He said the issue had most recently been raised during the United Nations’ high-level week last month, when both he and Christodoulides were in New York, with Christodoulides having requested a tripartite meeting with him and either UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres or Cyprus problem envoy Maria Angela Holguin.

With Christodoulides pushing for a meeting before both men returned to Cyprus, Erhurman said that Holguin had informed him that “the Greek Cypriot side was ready to accept the rotating presidency”.

In response, he said, he had said that “I am ready to sit at the negotiating table if the Greek Cypriot leader, Nikos Christodoulides, explicitly and unconditionally accepts the rotating presidency”.

However, he said, he “received no response” to this, and as such, no meeting was held before both men returned from New York.

“Our stance is consistent and stable. We are ready for all kinds of negotiations, but the preparation must be done properly. We are pushing for a result,” he said.

In the absence of this commitment, he said, “I did not want a token meeting” or a “photo opportunity meeting”, but instead, “I want to get work done.”

Christodoulides said Erhurman wishes to set ‘preconditions’

Those comments come after Christodoulides had accused him of attempting to set “preconditions” on the resumption of negotiations to solve the Cyprus problem in reaction to his insistence on a rotating presidency.

“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”.

Dana: Rotating presidency an indispensable component of political equality

The rotating presidency has long been 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.

Greek Cypriot negotiator Menelaos Menelaou said on Wednesday that problems over the routing of the Pyroi crossing point “have been overcome”, although a dispute over a second crossing point still stands in the way of an agreement.

Speaking to the Cyprus Mail, Menelaou said the remaining obstacle was the Turkish Cypriot demand that the Louroujina to Lympia crossing be included in any such deal.

He said the Louroujina issue remains open and has not yet been reconciled with the Greek Cypriot proposal for a crossing at Kokkina.

The earlier dispute concerned the route of the proposed road from Athienou through Pyroi to the Nicosia suburb of Aglandjia.

The Greek Cypriot side treats it as a single crossing, while the Turkish Cypriot side objected to a road running through so many kilometres of the buffer zone, arguing that it created security complications.

Menelaou told the Cyprus Mail the route now sits roughly evenly, between the government-controlled areas and the occupied north.

Pyroi is a ruined village in the north, inside a Turkish military zone, whose residents have been displaced since 1974.

Athienou lies on the government-controlled side, and a crossing would cut the drive from there to Nicosia from up to an hour to about ten minutes.

Christodoulides said on Tuesday that he had given Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman two new proposals on crossing points, one of which had already been rejected.

Erhurman separately confirmed late on Tuesday that he had rejected a proposal to open the fenced-off area of Varosha under United Nations administration and the port of Famagusta under European Union control.

He said formal negotiations could not begin until the sides agree on methodology and make progress on confidence-building measures.

New crossing points are the most concrete of those measures, as both sides agreed on a package of four after an enlarged meeting in Geneva in March 2025, when UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told each side to suggest two.

The Greek Cypriot side proposed the Athienou to Aglandjia road, with a crossing at each end, while the Turkish Cypriot side proposed Mia Milia and Louroujina.

The package has since stalled, for during Guterres’ visit in July, sources told the Cyprus Mail that the Greek Cypriot side suggested opening only two of the four, with Louroujina shelved, which the Turkish Cypriot side refused.

Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman late on Tuesday night confirmed that he had rejected a proposal put forward to him by President Nikos Christodoulides to open and repopulate the fenced-off area of Varosha under the United Nations’ administration and open the port of Famagusta under the European Union’s control.

“Handing over Varosha to the United Nations’ administration, within the framework of the security council resolutions, and opening the port of Famagusta under EU control. That is what is being said,” he told political talk show Er Meydani.

However, he said, “the port of Famagusta is an open port, it is not a closed port”, before elaborating that “the problem with our ports is that we cannot trade directly with the European Union”.

Asked whether the opening of the port of Famagusta would entail the implementation of the EU’s direct trade regulation, which has remained dormant since 2004 after it was drafted following the Greek Cypriot side’s rejection of that year’s Annan plan referendum, he answered in the negative.

“Is this the entry into force of the direct trade regulation? No, it is not the entry into force of the regulation, but since [the port] would be under EU control, direct trade would begin,” he said.

As such, he said, the proposal was unbalanced.

“Why is this the price for handing over Varosha to the UN’s administration? Are these balanced things?” he asked, before pointing out that the same proposal had been put forward in 2006, when Mehmet Ali Talat was Turkish Cypriot leader.

“This formula was presented in 2006 during Talat’s presidency, so 20 years have passed since then, and it has been brought up as if it were a new formula after 20 years. This is something I cannot accept.”

‘When I counted, I never reached 19’

He then spoke about Christodoulides’ 19 points for discussion, and said that he had never received a document listing those 19 points, but that instead, a number of suggestions had been voiced to him during their bilateral meetings.

“He only mentioned a few things verbally. I took notes. When I counted, I never reached 19 in terms of suggestions,” he said.

Then asked about the content of those suggestions, he said that it “would not be in accordance with diplomatic protocol” to disclose them, given that Christodoulides has not yet done so publicly, and that instead, “Christodoulides can make a statement regarding the proposals if he wishes, and when he does, I will discuss it”.

On this front, he said that last Saturday’s joint visit to the bicommunal festival in the Larnaca district village of Pyla was among the suggestions Christodoulides had put forward, and that other joint excursions, including meetings with bicommunal technical committees, also featured among Christodoulides’ suggestions.

He was then asked about accusations that he is “running away” from negotiations, and stressed that “I am not running away from the negotiating table at all”.

‘When I sit at the negotiating table, know that we are very close to a solution’

Instead, he said, he wishes for the next steps to be taken on the Cyprus problem to be “results-orientated”.

“I do not hold meetings for the sake of having meetings. I do not negotiate just for the sake of negotiating. I will not hold a five-plus-one meeting just for the sake of holding a five-plus-one meeting. Why will I do it? To find a solution. To produce something,” he said.

A “five-plus-one” meeting is another term 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.

Erhurman stressed that negotiations cannot begin until an agreement is reached between the two sides on their methodology and “progress is achieved on confidence-building measures”, but equally said that a solution to the Cyprus problem may not be as far away as it currently appears.

“When I sit at the negotiating table, know what we are very close to a solution. I cannot say 100 per cent, but it is very likely. Only then will I sit down. I do not negotiate just for the sake of negotiating. I promised I would not keep you waiting at the table for another ten years. I stand by my word,” he said.

President Nikos Christodoulides and Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman agreed to meet again next week following what the United Nations described as a constructive meeting on Tuesday in the UN Protected Area in Nicosia.

According to the UN, the two leaders continued discussions on confidence-building measures, methodology and the substance of the Cyprus problem.

They welcomed the upcoming arrival of UN Secretary-General’s Personal Envoy Maria Angela Holguin, who is expected in Cyprus on October 29.

Both leaders are due to hold separate meetings with Holguin ahead of a trilateral meeting scheduled for November 9.

The two also agreed to move forward with initiatives concerning the environment and the exchange of cultural artefacts.

Before Holguin’s arrival, Christodoulides and Erhurman intend to meet with the Technical Committee on Cultural Heritage, the Technical Committee on Youth and the Steering Committee of the Civil Society Consultative Body.

The leaders agreed to continue their discussions at another meeting next week.

President Nikos Christodoulides and Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman meet on Tuesday at 11am in Nicosia, with Christodoulides saying he was approaching the meeting with the sole aim of achieving positive developments.

On Monday, Christodoulides said the UN had proposed dates for a joint meeting between the leaders of the two communities and the UN secretary-general’s personal envoy Maria Angela Holguin. The Greek Cypriot side, he said, had already responded positively.

“I am going to the meeting with one and only one objective: to have positive developments,” Christodoulides said.

On whether Tuesday’s meeting could result in an announcement on the opening of four new crossing points, the president said the Greek Cypriot side was ready to proceed, provided there was a positive response from the Turkish Cypriot side.

“I hope there will be. We are ready. If there is a response, of course we are ready to proceed with such an announcement,” he said.

He added that the Greek Cypriot side was also prepared to move forward on other issues raised by the UN chief, including the substance of negotiations, methodology and confidence-building measures.

President Nikos Christodoulides and Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman will meet on Tuesday, government spokesman Konstantinos Letymbiotis said on Monday, with the meeting the latest of ongoing weekly discussions being held by the pair.

“Our goal remains to achieve substantive progress in the effort to resume negotiations from the point at which they were interrupted, within the agreed-upon framework,” Letymbiotis said.

He added that “we approach this with the same constructive spirit, consistency, and concrete proposals, in the conviction that, through substantial dialogue, the conditions for the next steps can be created”.

The meeting will come just three days after the two leaders jointly attended a bicommunal festival in the Larnaca district village of Pyla, with Christodoulides saying of their presence at the festival that “we are sending a message of peace”.

“We are sending a message of … coexistence and a message regarding the need to finally reunify our homeland. I reiterate what I said in a recent interview with the Turkish Cypriot press: if it were up to the Greek Cypriots and the Turkish Cypriots, out homeland would certainly be reunified,” he said.

However, the two leaders’ positions remain considerably apart on a range of issues, including political equality in a post-solution Cyprus, with Christodoulides on Sunday accusing Erhurman of “setting preconditions” in the latter’s insistence on a rotating presidency between the two communities should a solution be found.

“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.

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.

Dana: Rotating presidency an indispensable component of political equality

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”.

Disagreements also remain over the question of what the pair should be discussing at their meetings, with Christodoulides having put forward 19 new points for discussion at a meeting last month.

The substance of those 19 points has not been publicly disclosed, though Erhurman has described them as “throwing a spanner in the works”.

He said he believes the discussions should be based on he “seven proposals for confidence-building measures which [United Nations Secretary-General Antonio] Guterres voiced on the island at the end of July”.

Those seven issues were crossing points, mine clearance, the citizenship of children born of mixed marriages, sports, joint disaster response and a joint mechanism to combat irregular migration.

Meanwhile, UN envoy Maria Angela Holguin is expected to return to the island before the end of this month, and she said on Saturday that confidence-building measures across Cyprus’ divide “need to be implemented” so as to “create trust and demonstrate with facts the actual political will” for rapprochement.

“If, over the past two years, the parties have been unable to agree on a crossing point to facilitate communication, demining, or a joint effort to eliminate plastic pollution across the island … how can they agree on a political, economic and social model capable of overcoming decades of division and growing distance between the two communities?” she asked, while speaking to newspaper Politis.