Nicosia’s two mayors, Turkish Cypriot Mehmet Harmanci and Greek Cypriot Charalambos Prountzos, met the European Union’s envoy for the Cyprus problem on Wednesday night.
The pair met Hahn at the Home for Cooperation in the capital’s buffer zone, with Harmanci saying after the meeting that “we discussed our collaborative efforts, our new ideas for the benefit of both communities in the future solution of the Cyprus problem, and evaluated the constructive policies the EU could pursue in this process”.
He said he had also “reminded” Hahn that the financial assistance offered by the EU to the Turkish Cypriot community is “only a tool of the mission given to the European Commission by the European Council in 2004” when Cyprus joined the EU.
To this end, he said that “the European Union bears much greater responsibility for ending the isolation of the Turkish Cypriot community and achieving rapprochement with the Greek Cypriot community and the European Union”.
On this matter, he said that the landslide election of Tufan Erhurman as Turkish Cypriot leader in October constitutes “a new opportunity for EU initiatives which could support a solution to the Cyprus issue on a fair basis”, given Erhurman’s advocacy for a federal solution to the Cyprus problem – the solution model also advocated by the EU.
He also made brief reference to the floods which hit parts of northern Nicosia earlier in the week, saying he wished to “express my sincere thanks to my colleagues who worked non-stop for around 40 hours and to all those who provided support”.
Hahn is set to meet both President Nikos Christodoulides and United Nations envoy Maria Angela Holguin during his stay on the island, and the Cyprus Mail contacted Erhurman’s office over whether Erhurman will also meet Hahn but received no response.
Erhurman met Hahn in June after Ersin Tatar, the Turkish Cypriot leader of the day, refused to do so, and wrote in a post on social media after the meeting that he had discussed a range of issues with him, including the framework for a Cyprus problem solution, electricity interconnection, and the property issue.
“Once again, we have the opportunity to explain things comprehensively. Dialogue and diplomacy are always good. We will keep talking to everyone, without getting tired or bored of explaining,” he said.
