Tufan Erhurman meets UN Secretary-General and Averof Neophytou in New York

Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman met with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in New York on February 11, 2026. The meeting lasted 70 minutes, more than double its scheduled duration, and was described by Erhurman as productive and indicative of the UN's continued interest. Erhurman presented a four-point methodology for negotiations and called for the lifting of the international isolation of the Turkish Cypriot community. A disagreement was noted regarding the format of future talks, with Guterres favoring an informal 5+1 multilateral meeting while Erhurman preferred focusing on confidence-building measures within Nicosia. Additionally, Erhurman held a separate meeting with Cypriot MP and former DISY president Averof Neophytou at the latter's request. Neophytou expressed concerns that the Cyprus problem remains stagnant and warned that a lack of progress on crossing points and confidence-building measures risks trapping the process in uncertainty. The United Nations issued a statement confirming that the parties discussed the way forward regarding the Cyprus issue.