By Nazlan Ertan
NICOSIA—The New York dinner hosted by UN Secretary-General António Guterres for Greek Cypriot leader Nikos Christodoulides and his Turkish Cypriot counterpart Ersin Tatar managed to bring the two leaders together around a table, but reunification still seems a very distant prospect.
“There wasn’t much on the menu,” quipped Tatar, speaking to Turkish journalists, including Turkey in Depth, in Nicosia after his return to the island. “Guterres himself said the main advantage of the meal at the UN headquarters was the view. I told him the view from the Turkish House [the headquarters of multiple Turkish diplomatic missions in the Big Apple] was far better.”
Tatar’s diplomatic humor touches on the heart of the issue: the Turkish Cypriot leader has little faith that a new round of the Cyprus talks which broke down in Crans-Montana in 2017 will lead anywhere. At the dinner, Tatar laughingly pointed out that Christodoulides, a presidential adviser at the time, was directly responsible for the collapse of those talks. “That’s why he is president today,” he tıold Guterres.
Bitter jokes aside, the informal dinner did little to shift entrenched positions. While the two leaders exchanged a handshake and pledged to meet again soon, even the so-called “agreed” points remain unresolved.
“We’ve agreed that the Metehan border post will be enlarged on the Greek side to ease bottlenecks,” said Tatar. The two sides also discussed opening new border crossings and meeting in a broader format, but even this remains in doubt. “We want to open the crossing at Haspolat [Mia Milia in Greek, an industrial area northeast of the capital,] while the Greek Cypriots proposed Erenköy, which we’ll never accept because it’s militarily sensitive,” he explained. “They’ll need to come up with alternative suggestions.”
Tatar dismissed Christodoulides’ other confidence-building measures. “He proposed a Reconciliation Committee, which we don’t want, and some measures for youth,” he shrugged, saying neither would improve the daily life of the Turkish Cypriots.
NEW CONTACT, OLD POSITION
The primary obstacle remains the irreconcilable nature of the two sides’ basic approaches. Tatar insists the island must move forward as two independent states, a stance emboldened by Turkey’s diplomatic efforts to get Turkic states to recognize the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, which is currently recognized only by Ankara.
Prime Minister Ünal Üstel also told Turkish journalists that the TRNC would not abandon its call for international recognition as a separate state. The Turkish Cypriot leadership is further encouraged by Turkey’s support, with hopes that oil-rich Azerbaijan, a Turkish ally, may soon take steps toward recognizing the TRNC.
In contrast, Christodoulides continues to advocate for a federal, binational, and bicommunal Cyprus, in line with the position of the “Republic of Cyprus” position as an EU member state. The former diplomat, who spent years in Brussels, likes to underline that his mini-state, a member of the EU since 2004, has the power to stall any rapprochement between Brussels and the Turkish Cypriots and between Ankara and Brussels.
EXPANDING TALKS BUT HOW?
Both sides have agreed to hold broader talks but with different visions for the format.
Turkey and Northern Cyprus prefer four-way talks, while the Greek side also favors involving Britain, one of the guarantor states of the 1960 agreements establishing the Republic of Cyprus.
Greece and the UK insist on the five-party talks model, unwilling to be excluded. Some Turkish Cypriot officials speculate that the UK might agree not to attend, but the Greek Cypriot side is pushing for its inclusion to increase pressure on Turkey and Northern Cyprus.
The appointment of a UN mediator has also become a sticking point.
Tatar opposes former Colombian Foreign Minister María Angela Holguin’s appointment, arguing that her report ignored Turkish Cypriot demands for the “3Ds” - i.e., direct trade, international flights, and diplomatic contacts—all measures that would ease the decades-long isolation of the unrecognized state.
MOVES, ARRESTS ON THE GROUND
Developments on the ground further marred the talks. Both Tatar and Üstel have accused the Greek Cypriot side of pressuring tour operators to avoid sending visitors to the north and offering financial incentives to companies that refrain from crossing the Green Line.
The arrest of Simon Aykut, a Turkish Cypriot land developer, in the south has also sparked outrage. Greek Cypriots claim Aykut, an Izmir-born Jewish citizen of Turkey and the TRNC—and likely Israel—had been constructing luxury housing on Greek Cypriot property abandoned in the north after the de facto partitioning of the island. Turkish Cypriot politicians and the construction sector see this arrest as a ploy to undermine confidence in the housing market, creating the impression that new developments are illegal and could be reclaimed by Greek Cypriot owners anytime. “At the dinner, I raised the case of this 74-year-old man in ill health, who should be released while awaiting trial,” said Tatar. “The Israeli president has also called on Christodoulides for his release, but he keeps saying the judiciary is independent. Guterres finally asked him if he could issue a pardon and urged him to do so if possible.”
OPPOSITION’S VIEW: A DIFFERENT PATH
While Tatar and his government continue to push for sovereign equality and a two-state solution, the Turkish Cypriot opposition, led by Republican Turkish Party (CTP) leader Tufan Erhürman, proposes a different approach. Erhürman and the CTP advocate for a federal solution in line with UN resolutions, a stance closer to that of the Greek Cypriot side.
Erhürman has criticized the Turkish Cypriot leadership for isolating the north by pursuing a two-state solution, which he argues has no international support beyond Turkey. Although he is skeptical about the success of a new round of talks, he proposes a Plan B: if negotiations fail within a predetermined period, the international community should move to end Northern Cyprus’ isolation.
Tatar dismisses the proposal. “They don’t talk about sovereignty, and the idea that this can be solved in a few months is ridiculous,” he scoffed. “These portrayals of me as Turkey’s yes-man and claims that I don’t represent my people undermine my position in negotiations and are tantamount to treason.”
