Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman on Friday rejected a proposal by U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres for a joint meeting with Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides, the Cyprus newspaper Phileleftheros reported, citing government sources.
Guterres had conveyed the invitation through his personal envoy, Maria Angela Holguin, who held separate meetings with both leaders in New York. Only Christodoulides accepted.
The rebuff complicates Guterres’ efforts to move the Cyprus issue forward.
Erhurman had signaled his reluctance before he even left for New York. He traveled without his negotiating team or any journalists, and his office said he would be back in the north on Sept. 27.
While in New York, he met with Holguin. A brief statement afterward said only that they had reviewed where things stand on Cyprus.
Christodoulides, for his part, left the door open in every public comment he made in New York, apparently holding out hope that Erhurman would accept Guterres’ invitation at the last minute.
As for the document recording the points on which the two sides have converged, it is not yet complete but is at an advanced stage, as far as Nicosia is aware, accroding to reporting by Phileleftheros.
