“The relations of the TRNC authorities with Turkey are very important and good relations should be established on the right basis and the right basis is to have a self-sustained economy and democracy”, leader of the CTP, Tufan Erhurman has said.
Referring to the Cyprus problem, Erhurman said that his party’s views and statements on this issue are very clear. He explained that they support a comprehensive solution model on a federal basis, which will be achieved with negotiations that are result-oriented, not open-ended, by protecting past convergences and lifting the debate on political equality. Reminding that they have had a lot of experience on the Cyprus issue, Erhurman said that his party is one of the most expert on this issue. He added: “We don’t want the resumption of the Cyprus talks from scratch. If the Cyprus talks resume with unclear limits and are open-ended, they will return to the starting point”.
Pointing out that Greek Cypriot leader Nicos Anastasiades not only has no consensus on the issue of political equality, but also that he also blocked the process, concerned that he would not be able to sell it to the public and to his people, Erhurman stressed that the failed negotiations at Crans-Montana (2017) should never allow them to forget this.
Referring to political equality, Erhurman argued: “We don’t want the resumption of the Cyprus talks before the political equality debate is over. Because political equality is a matter that has been clarified in UN Security Council resolutions and has been agreed in past convergences. It is not possible to resume negotiations, which is result-oriented, before the discussions on this issue are over. Because if this issue is reopened at the negotiations it would be like starting from scratch, and then it means that issues like bi-communality and bi-zonality may also open and it is clear that this will not end”.
Commenting also on the UBP-HP coalition government, Erhurman said that during their four-month performance the only thing they had heard from the government was about the financial protocol, their relations with Turkey and the fenced-off town of Varosha issue. Criticising them for their statement that “as soon as they would have come to power they would have signed the protocol”, Erhurman said that the “protocol could only be published in the official gazette in September”, and added that “the amount that was announced before was much higher than the 750 million TL, which was has begun to be transferred and only 203 million TL will be transferred to the real sector and infrastructure”.
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