According to Yenidüzen, Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhürman said he regarded UN Secretary-General António Guterres' visit to the island as important and positive, telling reporters in the north that it demonstrated to those on the ground the depth of Guterres' interest in the Cyprus problem. Erhürman was speaking after his trilateral meeting with Guterres and President Nikos Christodoulides.
Erhürman pointed to several factors underlining the visit's significance. He noted the seniority of the delegation accompanying Guterres, which he said included figures from the highest levels of the UN bureaucracy. He also highlighted the fact that Guterres met separately with Christodoulides in the south and with Erhürman and his delegation in the north, saying this once again underscored the position of two equal leaders operating under the UN umbrella. A fourth point, he said, was that the meetings themselves were held in Nicosia.
Despite the absence of very concrete outcomes, Erhürman said he considered the visit important and positive in terms of its results as well.
"This time there must be something different"
Turning to confidence-building measures and methodology, Erhürman said he and his side had stressed from the outset that, if a negotiating table were to be set up, positive steps on confidence-building measures would be essential. He said that, as Guterres himself had noted, the Turkish Cypriot side had also been saying that this time something different was needed, a difference they had framed in terms of methodology. He added that Guterres, even through the programme of his visit itself, had demonstrated the importance he attaches to confidence-building measures.
