It is “extremely important” for the Turkish Cypriot side to be involved in Cyprus’ accession to the Schengen zone, Turkish Cypriot opposition political party CTP leader Tufan Erhurman said on Tuesday.

He warned that Schengen accession “has the potential to bring about many complications, especially in the area of freedom of movement” regarding regarding Turkish Cypriots, especially those who are not citizens of the Republic.

As such, he said, “it is extremely important for the Turkish Cypriot side to be involved in this process to bring the complications which may arise in the future onto the European Union’s agenda in a timely manner, and to produce solutions for them”.

He called for the reestablishment of the bicommunal “EU ad hoc committee”, which was established in 2016 to prepare the Turkish Cypriot community to comply with the EU’s acquis communautaire following the resolution of the Cyprus problem.

This committee, he added, “was unilaterally dissolved by [former president Nicos] Anastasiades after Crans Montana” but is “very necessary at this point”.

“We are faced with a Greek Cypriot leadership which ignores Turkish Cypriots in all such processes and a Turkish Cypriot leadership which does not care about such issues, primarily due to indifference, negligence and loyalty to their ‘two-state solution proposal’ which even they do not believe can be realised,” he said.

He added that the EU “is handicapped by treating the abnormal situation on the island as ‘normal’” and is “focusing on the running of affairs within the EU, and taking advantage of the Turkish Cypriot leadership’s carelessness to act as if we do not exist”.

“Turkish Cypriots exist. In such a situation, which has the potential to affect them negatively, it is not possible for their will to be considered ‘unnecessary’,” he said, adding that Turkish Cypriots are “increasingly faced with the risk of being confined to the north of Cyprus”.

Erhurman’s statements came as a direct reaction to the meeting of Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos and European commissioner for internal affairs Magnus Brunner on Monday.

The pair had met to discuss the matter of Cyprus’ Schengen zone accession, with President Nikos Christodoulides having said earlier in the month that Cyprus will join the Schengen zone as early as next year.

“We will join the Schengen zone in 2026. A huge effort is being made by the end of 2025 from a technical point of view. This is our goal, we will have completed everything we need to do as a state, with the aim of 2026, precisely, for the Republic of Cyprus to join the Schengen zone,” he said.

“I assure you that by the end of 2025, we will complete all the technicalities we need to ensure that our country will be in the Schengen zone in 2026.”

Cyprus is one of just two EU member states left outside the Schengen zone, following the accession of Bulgaria and Romania at the beginning of this year. Cyprus aside, Ireland is the only EU member outside the Schengen zone. Four non-EU members – Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland – are also Schengen members.

Reports earlier in the year set out the likely requirements Cyprus must fulfil to be able to join the Schengen zone, with the country said to have been tasked with “strengthening [its] border controls”.

Particular attention on this front has been paid to the Green Line, which, while not de jure an external border, is said to “require strict controls” and is not exempt from EU frontier standards.