Erhurman demands preservation of convergences reached at Crans-Montana

Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman has said that he has rejected President Nikos Christodoulides’ plan for a new list of convergences found between the island’s two sides to be drawn up, saying that instead, the convergences reached at the most recent formal round of negotiations in the Swiss ski resort of Crans-Montana in 2017 be preserved.

Speaking upon his return to Cyprus from his meeting with United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, he said that “the purpose of this position is clear: to prevent the process from starting from scratch”.

“We have experienced this in the past. When [former Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali] Talat and [late president Demetris] Christofias sat down at the table, they were told that the Annan plan was an externally prepared plan and that the two Cypriot leaders could start from scratch and do better,” he began.

However, he said, “the process was started from scratch, and a long time was spent”, but “we know firsthand that the rapprochements which emerged essentially did not go beyond the framework of the Annan plan”.

“In other words, it started from scratch, time was lost, and the point reached remained unchanged. When we talk about a new methodology, this is precisely what we want to prevent. The convergences which have occurred up to Crans-Montana should be accepted in principle,” he said.

To this end, he said that “this is not to start a debate of ‘your convergence, my convergence’ – on the contrary, it is to prevent such a debate from happening”.

“At the last meeting, it was noteworthy that Christodoulides came with a thick file. In that file, he stated that there were, according to his assessments, convergences, and he put forward the approach of ‘bring yours as well and let us compare them’. This is precisely what we want to avoid,” he said.

He added, “if it is a matter of ‘your convergence, my convergence’, then there will be no convergences left and every topic will be reopened for negotiation”.

“This stance is not in favour of any one side, but in favour of the process. We do not want negotiations for the sake of negotiations. This time, we want negotiations for the sake of a solution,” he said.

He then said that it is for this reason that he wishes for negotiations to be time-limited, as “we want to prevent the process from turning into an open-ended and endless negotiation”.

Additionally, he said that it is “not possible” to move on from the current point “without clarifying fundamental issues such as the rotating presidency”, but that “even when moving into the next phase, the areas of rapprochement should not be reopened and discussed individually”.

“Otherwise, the process will revert to square one,” he said.

He also spoke on the matter of crossing points between the island’s two sides, saying that during his meeting with Guterres on Wednesday night, he had “detailed the congestion at Ayios Dhometios and the failure to fulfil the commitments made”.

“Despite promises made to take action by January 31, we noted that no improvements have been made at Ayios Dhometios, and that the arrangements made at Dherynia and at Astromeritis are incomplete,” he said.

In addition, he said, he had “presented in detail” his proposals regarding new crossing points.

“We explained that we are working on various alternatives, including Mia Milia, Louroujina, and the transit route through Athienou, and that we have developed phased proposals to address the concerns of the other side,” he said.

“We stated that we would not be at all bothered by the Greek Cypriots also benefiting from these crossing points and that, on the contrary, we support mutual facilitation.”