Turkish Cypriot opposition party CTP (Republican Turkish Party) leader Tufan Erhurman left Cyprus to travel to New York on Monday for meetings on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.
This move has drawn criticism from Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar, who accused Erhurman of undermining the “state’s position” for personal gain.
At a press conference at Ercan (Tymbou) airport, Erhurman said his trip to New York will allow him “the chance to directly inform the Turkish Cypriot people about developments which concern them by holding bilateral talks with diplomatic representatives who will be there.”
He also spoke of how the Turkish Cypriots are “one of the two equal founding partners [of the Republic of Cyprus], a people who said ‘yes’ to the Annan plan, and the will of the Turkish Cypriot people for peace and a solution during the talks between [former Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali] Talat and [late President Demetris] Christofias is known to everyone.”
He also touched on how “the initiatives made by the Turkish Cypriot side to reach a solution in Crans Montana in 2017 are obvious,” but that “despite this, the Turkish Cypriot people have not been able to reach the position they desire in the world.”
Earlier, in the same press room, Ersin Tatar had offered fierce criticism for Erhurman for deciding to travel to New York.
He said Erhurman was “undermining the state’s position by going behind its back for his own personal gain”, and added, “this does not conform to the actions of a statesman.”
He had also criticised Erhurman at the UBP’s party conference on Saturday, saying, “some are taking steps today as if they were a parallel structure, to harm national politics for their own personal gain … We will never accept them harming our politics.”
