HOW READY ARE TURKISH CYPRIOTS FOR EU MEMBERSHIP?

Last year (2025), with the election of Tufan Erhürman as the new President of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), hopes for reunification between this de facto state, recognized only by Türkiye, and the Greek Cypriot side, which is internationally known as the Republic of Cyprus, increased significantly. The main reason for this is that Dr. Tufan Erhürman, a legal scholar, openly supported federalism during his election campaign and was elected from the CTP (Republican Turkish Party), a social democratic party with a federalist stance. Considering that the Republic of Cyprus also has a President (Nikos Christodoulides) who advocates for federalism, reunification, and the continuation of reunification negotiations from where they left off in Crans-Montana in 2017, the possibility of resolving the Cyprus Problem, which has remained a frozen conflict for decades, and establishing a federal state on the island after many years, should be carefully examined in the coming months. In this context, this study examines Erhürman’s election campaign and the methodology he developed to resolve the Cyprus Problem, the initial contacts between the two leaders following Erhürman’s election, and the Turkish Cypriots’ situation regarding potential EU (European Union) membership.