Tufan Erhurman, leader of the secessionist entity, has flown to New York for talks. Tomorrow, Saturday, once the UN General Assembly has wrapped up, he will sit down with Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. It happens every year. The Secretary-General never receives a representative of the illegal regime while the General Assembly is sitting.
Before leaving, Erhurman made a point of sending out a few messages, apparently designed less to move things forward than to slam on the brakes. The occupying power’s man is demanding a five-plus-one meeting with guaranteed results. Fair enough, on the face of it. Nobody wants another dead end, and any meeting worth holding has to be prepared so that it actually delivers.
But that raises the question: who is standing in the way of results? The occupation side. We do not say this lightly, nor as part of some blame game. It is what anyone following the process can see.
The occupation side has blocked the opening of new crossing points. It first accepted Guterres’s proposal to open two at once, at Mia Milia and Athienou-Aglantzia. Then it said no. What changed Erhurman’s mind in the meantime is not hard to guess.
Erhurman says he expects real progress on confidence-building measures, on methodology and on substance. He also referred to a proposal by the Secretary-General to set up and run “joint mechanisms” on a range of issues, which amount, more or less, to the same old measures that have been doing the rounds for years. These he describes in… his own words, and on his own terms.
When Ankara’s placeman sets out his conditions and preconditions, it is he who needs to answer why he has not taken a single step towards implementing confidence-building measures. Not the ones on the table now, and not the many others discussed in the past that went nowhere. Take the measures for the fenced-off area of occupied Famagusta.
What is clear is that what Erhurman is putting forward is blocking any progress. He demands preparation, yet won’t lift a finger to implement what has already been agreed.
