Diplomatic sources reject claim Erhürman blocked New York meeting

According to the sources, UN officials concluded that there had been no progress on confidence-building measures proposed by Guterres following a New York meeting between Turkish Cypriot negotiator Mehmet Dânâ and Greek Cypriot negotiator Menelaos Menelaou.

The sources said Guterres consequently did not call a meeting with the two leaders. They added that no three-way meeting appeared on the UN programme when Erhürman and Christodoulides arrived in New York.

The account directly challenges the claim that Guterres sought a meeting which Erhürman then blocked. Erhürman had said before his visit that neither a three-way meeting nor a wider 5+1 gathering was scheduled during the UN General Assembly week. 

Guterres has previously said that a further 5+1 meeting would require adequate preparation on confidence-building measures, negotiating methods and substantive issues. 

Portraying the absence of a meeting as an Erhürman veto, the diplomatic sources argued, misrepresents the UN’s position and seeks to place responsibility for the lack of a three-way meeting on the Turkish Cypriot side.