Tatar rejects tripartite meeting, says UN never invited them

Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar denied on Sunday receiving an invite to meet with the UN and said he would not accept even if there was.

Tatar said that that there was not invitation from Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to hold a tripartite meeting with President Nikos Christodoulides in New York.

He added that he would not accept such a meeting as there is no discussion for him for restarting Cyprus talks without accepting the north’s ‘sovereignty’.

Tatar told Kibris newspaper that the Turkish Cypriot side’s position on the issue is very clear and added that there will be “absolutely no return” to negotiations for a federal solution.

“No one should expect that negotiations will start from where they left off in Crans-Montana. The search for a federal solution ended in Crans-Montana. There is no common ground for the resumption of the Cyprus talks,” he said.

“As long as the fact that there is no common ground is obvious, there is no need for a trilateral meeting or any other kind of meeting,” Tatar said, adding that Christodoulides was trying to create a fait accompli, while denying “the President’s claims” of a trilateral meeting.

Saying that there is no invitation from the UN Secretary-General for a trilateral meeting, he said that he would not approve a trilateral meeting under the present circumstances.

“There is no common ground for such a meeting. Our position on the conditions under which negotiations will resume is clear. Negotiations cannot begin until our sovereign equality and our equal international status are recognised,” he said, noting that “there is no invitation to us.”

He argued that “the Greek Cypriots’ intentions are to create impressions and try to put the Turkish Cypriot side under pressure. We will not participate in these games. Christodoulides should stop chasing illusory dreams and take into account the reality on the island,” he said.

Tatar also said the Turkish side knows very well what it is doing and what it wants. “We are implementing our policies on Cyprus in full cooperation and harmony with Turkey. We are spoiling all the games they want to play and we will continue to do so,” he said.