Erhürman’s administration chief calls rotating presidency a condition for Cyprus talks

Mehmet Dana, head of the office of the president of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), said that a rotating presidency is an integral element of the political equality of Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots, and that this principle must be recognised before new negotiations on a Cyprus settlement begin. He said this in an interview with Cyprus Mail.

According to Dana, the details can be discussed at the negotiating table — for example, the length of the terms during which a representative of each community would take turns serving as head of state. The principle itself, he insists, cannot be subject to bargaining.

Dana referred to previous rounds, including the negotiations in Crans-Montana in 2017: in his assessment, political equality was made a subject of discussion then, and the process reached an impasse.

The Republic of Cyprus rejected this position. Yannis Antoniou, deputy head of the government press office, said that an interpretation of political equality that includes sovereign equality is unacceptable to the Greek Cypriot side, and that a rotating presidency can only be the outcome of negotiations, not a condition for their beginning.

Antoniou described the fourth point of the methodology proposed by TRNC President Tufan Erhürman as the most problematic: it envisages UN guarantees to end the isolation of Turkish Cypriots if the negotiations fail.

Erhürman and Republic of Cyprus President Nikos Christodoulides met on 17 September in the UN buffer zone, where they discussed confidence-building measures.