Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman’s undersecretary Mehmet Dana on Monday called on newly appointed European Commission envoy for the Cyprus problem Raffaele Fitto to facilitate efforts to implement the EU’s direct trade regulation with the Turkish Cypriot community.

“The European Council, in its decision taken in 2004, emphasised its commitment to ending the isolation of the Turkish Cypriot people and called on the commission to prepare comprehensive proposals for this purpose, However, to date, no significant progress has been made in this regard,” he said.

He said that this lack of progress “includes the implementation of the direct trade regulation”, and that as such, “Fitto’s ensuring that the necessary steps are taken in this direction without further delay would be the greatest support given by the European Union to the efforts for a solution”.

“As we have emphasised many times before, the Turkish Cypriot people’s strong will for a solution has continues, and in this context, we, as the Turkish Cypriot side, fully support United Nations Secretary-General [Antonio Guterres’] efforts,” he said.

However, he did say that “it is impossible to expect the European Union, of which the Greek Cypriot side is a member and therefore has a veto power, to be neutral in any possible negotiation process”.

“Indeed, the unilateral decisions and biased statements made by various European Union institutions in the past period are the most important indicator of this,” he said.

As such, he said that since Erhurman took office in October last year, he “has emphasised the importance of establishing trust not only with the Greek Cypriot side, but also with the European Union”.

Fitto had last year offered compliments for Erhurman, telling the European Parliament in November that that “the change in leadership in the Turkish Cypriot community can open a new window of opportunity to move forward”.

“The window of opportunity must not close without progress. We hope that the coming months will lead to more concrete discussion towards the resumption of the formal settlement process. The EU counts on all parties to play a constructive and positive role in the discussion, and we are ready to use all the means at our disposal to support,” he said.

He added that “beyond diplomatic engagement, the Commission is also continuing its work to create the conditions for future reunification on the ground”, and that “we aim, through our work, to foster engagement, cooperation and inclusion between both the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities”.

November’s address was given in his capacity as European cohesion commissioner, a position which he will continue to hold following his appointment as envoy.

As cohesion commissioner, he was responsible, among other things, for overseeing the commission’s directorate-general for regional and urban policy (DG-Regio), the office which operates the Cyprus settlement support unit.