President Ersin Tatar left the island today to attend the expanded 5+1 Cyprus meeting to be held in New York.
Ahead of the summit in New York, President Tatar also had a busy schedule on Monday.
He met with the leaders of political parties to evaluate the upcoming summit.
President Tatar first met with political parties represented in Parliament, followed by meetings with officials from the Social Democratic Party (TDP) and the People’s Party (HP).
After the meetings, the President made a statement to the press.
President Ersin Tatar met with political party leaders ahead of the upcoming 5+1 format Cyprus meeting to be held in New York.
The meeting, which began around 3:10pm at the Presidency, was attended by National Unity Party (UBP) leader and Prime Minister Ünal Üstel, Republican Turkish Party (CTP) leader and main opposition head Tufan Erhürman, and Democrat Party (DP) leader, Deputy Prime Minister, and Minister of Tourism, Culture, Youth and Environment Fikri Ataoğlu.
Rebirth Party (YDP) leader Erhan Arıklı did not attend as he is currently abroad.
In the press conference following the meetings, President Tatar reminded that during the expanded 5+1 Cyprus meeting held in Geneva in March, Maria Angela Holguin was appointed as the UN Secretary-General’s Personal Envoy, and it was decided that a similar meeting would be held in New York in July.
Tatar, describing the work carried out by Holguin during this process, stated that although the desired level of progress was not achieved on the six points agreed upon at the meeting in Geneva, they would be going to New York to attend the meeting thanks to Holguin’s initiatives.
The President stressed that the meeting would explore what could be accomplished through cooperation between two states and said, “It has been over four years since we submitted our new policy to the UN. What we’ve made clear is that unless our sovereign equality and equal international status are confirmed, we will not enter a formal negotiation process. During evaluations with Holguin, we said this could be met through direct flights, direct contact, and direct trade.”
Stating that until a common ground was established, cooperation between the two sides would be beneficial for both parties, he noted that during his 4.5-year term, they have worked with 12 different technical committees on various cooperation areas.
Noting that one of the six agreed topics was bringing youth together — a goal that has been achieved — but that no progress had been made on the issue of border crossings, Tatar stated that this would be brought up in New York.
The President stated that he would also bring up the issue of property and assets at the meeting, and stressed that, contrary to the UN Secretary-General’s call to maintain the positive atmosphere, it was unacceptable for the Greek Cypriot side to turn the property issue into a crisis.
Noting that a recent court ruling in Strasbourg identified the Immovable Property Commission (IPC) as the relevant address for property matters, he added that he had proposals for improving the exchange mechanism.
Stating that the Greek Cypriot side did not act in good faith, Tatar said he would inform the UN and other countries about this issue.
Acknowledging that there are differing views on going to New York, President Tatar concluded “I will be in New York to protect the rights, the laws, and all the interests of the Turkish Cypriots.”
