President Nikos Christodoulides’ meeting with Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman on Wednesday ended with no joint statement, with the pair going their separate ways following around an hour and a quarter of talks in the buffer zone.

The meeting came after a brief exchange of terse words between the pair in the media on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning.

Erhurman had responded to comments made by Christodoulides to newspaper Yeniduzen, in which he had said the two leaders could “write history together” on the Cyprus problem by saying that such a thing is “no easy task” in the current political environment on the island.

Erhurman lamented that “initiatives are being put forward, through agreements with various countries, notably Israel and Greece, which disregard Turkish Cypriots and jeopardise lasting peace and stability on the island and in the region”.

“Domestically, far from implementing new confidence-building measures, trust, to the extent that it even existed, is being eroded by issues such as the Barcelona process, festivals, the property question, and one-sided, biased European Parliament resolutions driven by Greek Cypriot MEPs.”

Under these circumstances, he added, “it is, I believe, evident to everyone, not only to Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots, but also to the international community, that ‘writing history together’ is by no means an easy task”.

‘If there is real political will, I believe we can write history’

Christodoulides responded in kind before travelling to the meeting on Wednesday morning, by saying that “if there is real political will, I believe it, I repeat it, we can write history, and I am going to this meeting with such a mood”.

“If there is no political will, obviously, many other things will be said,” he added.

Regarding the cancellation of events in the north, such as the FC Barcelona children’s football camp and the Exit music festival in Kyrenia, he said that “this is not something which has happened for the first time”, and that “so long as this illegal state of affairs exists, we will see such developments, which are very normal”.

“I am here to speak for myself and not for the Turkish Cypriot leader, to overturn this illegal state of affairs and reunite our country, and I truly believe, despite the difficulties, the problems, the challenges, that if there is political will, yes, we can write history,” he said.

Asked if Erhurman’s comments on Tuesday night were what he had expected following his interview with Yeniduzen, he said that “I was expecting a more positive message in a positive, as I approach it, interview, which sent positive messages to our Turkish Cypriot compatriots”.

“My message to our Turkish Cypriot compatriots and to the Turkish Cypriot leader is that if the current state of affairs remains, the losers are the Greek Cypriots and the Turkish Cypriots, the Cypriot people,” he said.

“I truly believe this. I am here to do what is necessary on my part, so that the future of this country, the future of the Cypriot people, Greek Cypriots, Turkish Cypriots, Maronites, Armenians, and Latins, is clearly better.”