Republican Turkish Party (CTP) leader and presidential candidate Tufan Erhürman has underlined the importance of diplomacy and dialogue during an appearance on BRT’s Manşet+ programme, stating that the will of the Turkish Cypriot people for a solution must be actively represented at the negotiating table after the October election.
Republican Turkish Party (CTP) leader and presidential candidate Tufan Erhürman has reiterated his commitment to dialogue and diplomacy as the path forward for Turkish Cypriots.
Erhürman criticised the current stagnation in the Cyprus negotiations and warned that waiting passively under a two-state theory framework risks sidelining Turkish Cypriots in regional developments.
“It should be us telling the world that [Greek Cypriot leader] Christodulides cannot exercise sovereignty over the entire island,” he said.
He insisted that the Turkish Cypriot side must be a subject—not an object—of diplomacy. He stressed that the solution-oriented political will should be expressed at the United Nations-led negotiation table, where both sides are recognised as equal interlocutors.
Erhürman also criticised President Ersin Tatar’s decision not to meet with the EU’s Cyprus Envoy, Andreas Mavroyiannis, saying diplomacy should never be abandoned.
Highlighting unresolved issues such as citizenship rights for children of mixed marriages and property disputes, Erhürman said his recent meeting with the EU’s Special Envoy focused on communicating that the current state of affairs is unacceptable and must change. BRT
