Alpha News

TL Leader After Trilateral: Not Where We Want to Be on Confidence-Building Measures

Published January 28, 2026, 17:28

Tufan Erhürman, the leader of the Turkish Cypriot side, expressed dissatisfaction with the progress of negotiations regarding Confidence-Building Measures (CBMs) following a bilateral meeting with President Christodoulides. He argued that the President's new 5-point proposal contains nothing new, simply rearranging previous suggestions. Erhürman emphasized the need to re-accept the principles of political equality and rotating presidency, pointing out that a negotiation on the terms of office of the leaders could only take place once these principles are accepted. Erhürman proposed a new meeting between the two leaders without the mediation of the United Nations, a proposal that was accepted by President Christodoulides. He expressed the view that the discussion on opening new crossings was known in advance to be unacceptable to the Turkish Cypriot side, but he respected the President's effort to raise the issue. Regarding his own 4-point methodology proposal, Erhürman reiterated that political equality must be accepted as a principle, including effective participation and rotating presidency. He stressed that the acceptance of convergences already achieved must take place before any discussion of their content. Furthermore, Erhürman stated that the negotiation process must have a time limit, as opposed to the view of an unlimited process. He expressed his belief that the Turkish Cypriot people desire a solution and that he represents this will, referring to the agreement in the December joint communiqué regarding the importance of CBMs.