Christodoulides: “I’m Ready to Meet Erhürman Even Tomorrow; He Asked for Some Time”

Speaking to reporters before the opening of the University of Athens’ South Cyprus campus, Christodoulides reiterated that he was ready to meet Turkish Cypriot President Tufan Erhürman “at any moment.”

When asked whether the upcoming meeting between Erhürman and the UN Secretary-General’s Personal Envoy María Ángela Holguín in early December meant that the next phase of the Cyprus issue would be postponed until 2026, when Cyprus assumes the EU Council Presidency, Christodoulides said the two issues were unrelated.

He added that Holguín’s planned visit to Cyprus in early November would have been “useful,” but claimed it was “not possible for well-known reasons.”

Christodoulides stressed that the Greek Cypriot side would continue to work toward creating positive developments that could pave the way for the resumption of negotiations on the agreed basis.

When asked why Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was delaying the process, Christodoulides said, “It’s impossible for me to know what President Erdoğan is doing — I only know what we are doing.”

He reiterated that, as he had “stated and demonstrated many times,” his side was “ready for talks at any moment.”

Christodoulides said the delay was not caused by the Greek Cypriot side and recalled that, when he spoke with President Erhürman, he told him he was “ready to meet even the next day.”

“President Erhürman asked for some time and said he would get back to me when he was ready for a meeting,” Christodoulides noted, adding that he had told Erhürman he was in favor of meeting as soon as possible.

He emphasized that such meetings always take place within the framework of the United Nations and that the UN would facilitate the encounter, as it did when he first sought to meet the then–Turkish Cypriot leader after being elected president.

Commenting on President Erdoğan’s recent remarks describing a two-state solution as the only viable outcome for Cyprus, Christodoulides said he had not seen the statement but accused Turkey of acting “imperialistically” in the region, claiming that “the only one pursuing a neo-Ottoman approach in the Eastern Mediterranean is Turkey itself.”