Nicosia mayor withdraws from Cyprus Forum in solidarity with Harmanci — Cyprus Mail

In Nicosia, Cyprus, Mayor Charalambos Prountzos withdrew from participation in the Cyprus Forum in solidarity with Mehmet Harmanci. Harmanci also withdrew because of a dispute over the designation of his position in the forum programme and thanked Prountzos, stressing that the Nicosia mayor's decision itself deserves special attention.

As Cyprus Mail reports, Harmanci published a statement in Turkish, Greek and English. He called Prountzos his dear friend and thanked him for his courage, empathy, solidarity and commitment to peace.

Dispute over the title

Prountzos and Harmanci were due to jointly present peace and democracy awards at the forum, as they had done in previous years. However, both withdrew after a dispute over the wording used to describe Harmanci in the programme.

He was initially listed as the mayor of the Turkish Municipality of Nicosia, but the designation was later changed to leader of the Turkish Cypriot community of Nicosia. The change came after ELAM objected to Harmanci's participation under the original title.

Cyprus Forum executive president Nicolas Kyriakides said that the request not to refer to Harmanci as mayor came from officials of the Republic of Cyprus. According to him, the forum rejected calls to withdraw Harmanci's invitation.

More current news is available on the UA.News Telegram channel Telegram.

Participants' reactions

Harmanci said that the title itself was not the reason for the dispute: he had previously taken part in joint events in the south of the island and abroad as a leader or representative of the Turkish Cypriot community of Nicosia. He said the problem was the forum's response to what he described as a racist and divisive propaganda campaign.

He added that the decision to withdraw was difficult and made after careful consideration. According to Harmanci, his shared goal with Prountzos was to strengthen dialogue, trust and cooperation between the two communities, and this time they achieved that by withdrawing together.

Meltem Onurkan Samani, a representative of bicommunal initiatives, journalist Pinar Barut, and the Association for Historical Dialogue and Research also announced that they would not participate in Cyprus Forum panels. CTP MP Fikri Toros said that changing Harmanci's title as a result of what he claims was political pressure from ELAM is unacceptable. TDP leader Zeki Celer called it interference in the institutional will of Turkish Cypriots.

The Cyprus Forum is due to take place in Nicosia from September 28 to 30.