Christodoulides and Erhurman attend Pyla festival with message of peace and reunification
President Nikos Christodoulides said joint appearances with Tufan Erhurman were important but political will was essential to achieving reunification.
Pyla, Cyprus. President Nikos Christodoulides and Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman attended Pyla’s annual bicommunal festival together on Saturday evening. Arriving at the gathering, Christodoulides said their presence conveyed a message of peace, coexistence and the need to reunify Cyprus.
Reunification and political responsibility
Christodoulides repeated his view, expressed recently in an interview with Turkish Cypriot media, that Cyprus would certainly be reunited if the decision rested with Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots. He stressed, however, that this did not remove their responsibilities to secure a settlement.
He said he had come to deliver a strong appeal for joint work towards reunification, describing it as the only option for his side in the fullest sense.
Joint appearances and political will
Pyla, in Larnaca district, lies within the buffer zone dividing the island’s two sides. It remains among the few villages in Cyprus where both native Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities have stayed.
Asked whether attending such events together was enough, Christodoulides said these appearances were significant steps but insufficient on their own. He welcomed both the initiative behind the festival and the invitation to attend.
He identified political will as the decisive factor that could move the overall effort forward and produce a positive result, saying everything depended on it.
Further bicommunal engagements
Responding to a question about making appearances alongside Erhurman at festivals and other gatherings a regular occurrence, Christodoulides said he supported that approach and that it explained his attendance.
He said that, if his recollection was correct, this was the festival’s sixth edition. He highlighted its return following a six-year break and said it should remain an established institution.
The leaders are also due to attend upcoming sessions together of three bodies: the bicommunal technical committee on cultural heritage, the bicommunal technical committee on youth, and the steering committee on the civil society consultative body.
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