Newsroom
They could sit together at a festival celebrating coexistence. Agreeing on how to restart Cyprus reunification talks is proving harder.
A day after President Nikos Christodoulides and Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman attended Saturday’s bicommunal peace festival in Pyla, their disagreements were back in public view — over sharing power, opening crossings and even how proposals had been presented.
At the heart of the latest exchange is a straightforward question: What must the two sides agree on before negotiations can begin, and what should be settled once they are at the table?
In an interview published Sunday by Politis, Erhurman said acceptance in principle of a rotating presidency was necessary before substantive negotiations resumed. He also maintained that the Greek Cypriot side had not accepted any of the four points in his proposed negotiating methodology.
A rotating presidency would mean Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots taking turns holding the presidency under a reunification settlement. The dispute concerns both that power-sharing arrangement and whether it must be accepted before wider negotiations get underway.
Christodoulides argued Sunday that demanding advance acceptance of positions important to one community, without corresponding discussion of the other’s concerns, was holding the process back. Those questions, he said, belonged at the negotiating table.
Speaking in Limassol, the president described Erhurman’s interview as revealing one of the main reasons substantive talks had yet to restart. His position was that the outstanding issues should be discussed together, rather than individual concessions secured beforehand.
The exchange also brought clarification over Christodoulides’ much-discussed 19 proposals.
Erhurman said he had never received a written document containing them. Christodoulides responded that he had never claimed to have submitted one: The proposals had been delivered orally, he said, and Erhurman knew their contents.
That distinction matters. Their accounts do not necessarily conflict over whether a document changed hands, although disagreement remains over the substance and handling of the proposals.
For people waiting for easier movement across the divide, the dispute over new crossings offers a more immediate measure of the stalemate.
Erhurman blamed shifting Greek Cypriot demands for the lack of progress, saying alternative proposals he had put forward had not been accepted. He nevertheless expressed readiness to continue working with Christodoulides on confidence-building measures proposed by U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
Varosha remains another contested issue. Erhurman denied a report that he had rejected a proposal concerning the fenced-off area following intervention by Ankara. Christodoulides, for his part, said Varosha was among the matters he had raised with Guterres and included in his letter to the U.N. chief.
There is still a commitment to further contact. Following their Oct. 13 meeting, the United Nations said the leaders had agreed to meet again the following week and participate jointly in upcoming committee meetings.
Saturday’s appearance in Pyla offered a visible example of engagement between the communities. The exchanges that followed showed the political distance still to travel: The leaders remain in contact, but have yet to agree on the terms for moving from meetings to substantive negotiations.
