Tatar ‘makes Christodoulides look as if he wants to solve the Cyprus problem’

Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar allows President Nikos Christodoulides to be “unfairly portrayed as the party who wants a solution” to the Cyprus problem, Turkish Cypriot opposition party CTP leader Tufan Erhurman said on Tuesday.

“We have been explaining for a long time that although Christodoulides presents himself as the party that wants a solution, he in fact carries with him serious question marks in terms of his sincerity and his reliability, somewhat reminiscent of [late President Tasos] Papadopoulos,” he said.

He added, “the recent story of the United Nations Secretary-General [Antonio Guterres’] ‘invitation’ unfortunately confirms this view we have held.”

“Christodoulides’ public sharing of [Guterres’] proposal for a trilateral meeting had a negative impact on the process. There may have been a motivation behind this to overcome a deadlock in domestic politics or to share secret information,” he said.

Moving onto Tatar’s public refusal to attend such a meeting, he said “Tatar’s avoidance of diplomacy and dialogue does not protect the rights and interests of the Turkish Cypriot people.”

“We believe the solution is through diplomacy and dialogue … because we know that the way to protect our people’s rights and interests, to confirm their equal international status and to bring our children together with the world is not to avoid all kinds of diplomacy and dialogue but to use all kinds of diplomatic opportunities and self-confidence,” he said.

He added, “we can see the horizons that a solution will broaden for this people, and we believe that if it cannot be reached for reasons outside of our control, we can open the way for our people with the right moves in the foreign policy sphere.”

“We have explained many times that Tatar’s positions are not likely to bring about a solution. Similarly, his ‘preconditions’ regarding the commencement of negotiations are often impossible to understand, let alone accept,” he said.

“We can say without further ado that Tatar is actually saying that no solution is a solution. Moreover, he is pushing the Turkish Cypriot people away from the world by persistently avoiding any kind of diplomacy or dialogue, let alone negotiations.”

The latest round of controversy over the Cyprus problem began on Saturday night when Christodoulides announced that Guterres had asked him to attend a trilateral meeting alongside himself and Tatar on August 13.

However, this led to confusion in the north on Sunday, with Tatar saying he had not been invited to such a meeting and that even if he had been invited, he would not have gone.  

The plot thickened further on Sunday night when UN spokesman Farhan Haq told the Cyprus Mail that “as far as I am aware, no invitations have been sent.”

Government spokesman Konstantinos Letymbiotis then told the Cyprus Mail Christodoulides’ Saturday night revelation had referred to a “sounding out”, and that Haq’s comment had only meant that no formal invite had been sent.

Asked about whether Christodoulides and Tatar had been “sounded out” over a meeting by the Cyprus Mail, Farhan Haq said “I have nothing further to say.”

In the aftermath, Christodoulides said Tatar’s rejection of a meeting had “shown contempt to the Turkish Cypriots”, while Tatar said “my message to the Greek Cypriot people is to not be fooled by the Greek Cypriot leader’s statements.”