TC leader Tufan Erhürman arrived in Ankara for his first official visit since taking office. At the invitation of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the TC leader and his wife Nilden Bektaş Erhürman traveled from Nicosia to Ankara aboard the Ata Presidential aircraft. At Esenboğa Airport, Erhürman was welcomed by senior officials from the Presidency and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as well as by İsmet Korukoğlu, the TC side’s representative to Turkey. According to the programme, the visit started with Erhürman at Anıtkabir, the mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, where he will lay a wreath and observe a moment of silence.
Following the ceremony, he met with the Grand National Assembly Speaker Numan Kurtulmuş. At noon, the TC leader will hold a working lunch with Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan at his residence. Later in the day, he will visit the TC representation office in Ankara, before heading to the Presidential Complex, where an official state welcome ceremony will take place. After the one-on-one meeting between the two presidents, a working dinner with the delegations will follow. The visit will conclude with a joint press conference by Erdoğan and Erhürman at the Presidential Complex. The TC delegation will then return to Nicosia by private aircraft the same evening.
Critical Time
Erhürman’s trip to Ankara is being viewed as a significant diplomatic move ahead of the new round of contacts to be launched in December by the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy on Cyprus, María Ángela Holguín Cuéllar, and the informal 5+1 Cyprus meeting expected to take place toward the end of the year.
The upcoming UN-initiated meeting is expected to bring together the leaders of the two sides and representatives of the three guarantor states, Türkiye, Greece, and the United Kingdom. The discussions aim to reaffirm political will and define the framework for a possible new negotiation process. Around the same time, Greek Cypriot leader Nikos Christodoulides and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis are scheduled to meet in Athens, Wednesday, as part of the Greece–Cyprus Intergovernmental Summit, where the Cyprus issue, energy cooperation, and preparations for the 2026 EU Council Presidency will be on the agenda.
First visit after the election
Tufan Erhürman was elected on October 19, 2025, with 62.76 percent of the vote, and assumed office on October 24. His trip to Ankara marks his first official foreign visit since assuming the presidency. TC sources close to the leadership emphasised that the visit carries “special significance in reinforcing the brotherly ties" between Türkiye and the TCs and reaffirming support to the Turkish Cypriots.