President Erhürman: My duty is to explain the truth not only to Turkish Cypriots but also to Greek Cypriots

President Tufan Erhürman made a statement regarding his planned visit to a school in Karpaz where Greek Cypriot students are receiving education.

The statement reads as follows:

We decided approximately ten to fifteen days ago to visit the school in Karpaz where Greek Cypriot students are receiving education. Our colleagues were working to arrange the programme.

It is entirely natural for us to schedule a visit to a school in Karpaz. For that reason, we made no special effort to keep it “confidential.” 

It appears that our counterparts in the south also heard about this programme, as three or four days ago they inquired whether we were planning such a visit. Since the schedule had not yet been finalised, we responded that it was “not yet on the programme.”

After finalising the arrangements, yesterday we made an official notification to the respective School regarding our visit (just as we also made an official notification to the Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Secondary School in the region, since we will be visiting there as well).

As this matter had previously been raised with us by our counterparts in the south, and since we have nothing to conceal, we also informed them of this as of yesterday.

However, in a newspaper published in the south today, ahead of the meeting to be held today, a report appeared stating that  "Christodoulides, in his meeting today with Tufan Erhürman, will raise the problems faced by those living in the Karpaz region, and particularly the operational difficulties of the school in Dipkarpaz”.

We are the ones who decided to go, and of course we will go. This decision was not taken in response to any request from the south. Moreover, it was not secret. We are under no obligation to inform anyone in the south in order to visit a school in Karpaz. Nevertheless, since we were asked, we responded with sincerity.

The attempt to transform such a clearly transparent matter -- through media manipulation -- into a narrative of “we requested it and they complied” is extremely far removed from seriousness, maturity, and sincerity. Similar methods have been attempted several times during my four-month term in office.

My duty is to explain the truth not only to Turkish Cypriots but also to Greek Cypriots. I will, of course, convey this to Mr. Christodoulides in our meeting today as well.

We will neither engage in accusation games through the media nor concern ourselves with manipulation. We have no need to do so. We will continue on our path with patience, composure, seriousness, and sincerity.