Tufan Erhürman Elected

Tufan Erhürman was born in Nicosia in 1970 and spent most of his early career as a lecturer in public law. He served on the Turkish Cypriot negotiating team under Mehmet Ali Talat between 2008 and 2010, was elected to parliament in 2013, led the Republican Turkish Party (CTP) from 2016 and was prime minister in 2018 and 2019. He has long supported a federal settlement, while saying he would not pursue one without Turkey’s agreement.

At the Turkish Cypriot presidential election on 19 October 2025 he faced the incumbent, Ersin Tatar, who had spent five years arguing for a settlement between two states. Erhürman won outright in the first round with 62.8 per cent of the vote to Tatar’s 35.8 per cent, on a turnout of about 65 per cent. He took office on 24 October.

Erhürman soon began meeting President Nikos Christodoulides. On 11 December 2025 the UN envoy María Ángela Holguín hosted both leaders, who reaffirmed that the goal was a comprehensive settlement based on political equality, in line with UN Security Council resolutions. They discussed new crossing points, halloumi (hellim), a water treatment plant at Mia Milia (Haspolat) and services at existing crossings, and agreed to attend a wider informal meeting when the Secretary General called one.

In late July 2026 António Guterres visited the island and held a joint meeting with both leaders. Afterwards he said he would convene a wider meeting with the guarantor powers only once enough progress had been made on trust building, the structure of talks and the substance, and he urged the leaders to “walk that last mile”. He also asked for progress on seven specific issues.

By September the tone had cooled. During the UN General Assembly week in New York in September, Erhürman declined a joint meeting with Christodoulides and the UN, saying he wanted a realistic chance of agreeing some of the seven issues first. Each side has accused the other of slowing progress, and Holguín warned that the window of opportunity was gradually closing. The two leaders were due to meet again in Nicosia in mid October 2026.