Turkish Cypriots have handed the pro-European leftwing chief Tufan Erhürman a convincing victory in a presidential ballot more likely to inject renewed vigour into the deadlocked peace course of on Cyprus.
Erhürman, 55, who campaigned on reviving stalled UN-brokered talks to reunify the island, defeated the incumbent nationalist, Ersin Tatar, by greater than 30 proportion factors – a landslide win that stunned even his most ardent supporters.
Tatar, whose five-year tenure had been dominated by the rallying cry of “a two-state resolution” to the Cyprus drawback, picked up 35.8% of the vote towards 62.8% for his opponent. In distinction to the reasonable Erhürman, the hard-right nationalist had been brazenly backed by Ankara.
Information of the outcome was met with scenes of euphoria within the Turkish-occupied north. Analysts described the electoral win as a possible gamechanger on an island that has been ethnically break up for greater than 50 years between Greeks within the internationally recognised south and Turks within the north.
“His win gives hope for peace on Cyprus,” the previous MEP Niyazi Kızılyürek stated on Sunday. “Supporters say they anticipate actual change in on a regular basis life, beginning with confidence-building measures, and everybody expects that he’ll wish to resume negotiations primarily based on UN resolutions very quickly.”
Erhürman’s supporters have fun his resounding win. {Photograph}: Yiannis Kourtoglou/Reuters
The outcome, he added, can be “a take a look at” for Greek Cypriots. “Its straightforward when the alternative facet doesn’t wish to discuss, which was the case with Tatar. Now they are going to be pressured to answer a charismatic Turkish Cypriot chief who desires to sit down down and negotiate.”
UN-brokered negotiations to reunite Cyprus have been on pause since they spectacularly broke down within the Swiss mountain city of Crans-Montana eight years in the past – the longest hiatus within the peace course of ever.
Polls had indicated a neck-and-neck race between the election’s two major contenders.
The dimensions of Erhürman’s victory confirmed that the decidedly secular Turkish Cypriots have been bored with isolationist insurance policies that had seen the territory turn out to be more and more aligned with the Islamist management of the ruling AKP occasion in Ankara, in addition to wanting a shift in the direction of Europe. The group has lengthy complained of its identification being eroded beneath the affect of Turkey, the one nation to acknowledge the breakaway republic.
“Supporters of Erhürman see themselves as an autonomous ethno-political group, not as Turks of Cyprus, and so they wish to preserve it that means,” stated Kızılyürek, including that the youngsters of Turkish settlers born within the north had been particularly appalled by what they perceived because the “anti-democratic flip” of Turkey in recent times.
“They voted for Erhürman in a giant means as a result of they need their future to be within the European Union,” he stated.
Ersin Tatar speaks to the media after casting his poll. {Photograph}: Birol Bebek/AFP/Getty Photographs
Cyprus has been divided since 1974 when a coup aimed toward union with Greece – engineered by the army junta then in energy in Athens – prompted Turkey to invade and seize the island’s northern third. Ever since, as many as 45,000 mainland Turkish troops have been stationed within the north.
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In 1983 the territory unilaterally declared independence, however within the absence of a settlement a long time of worldwide isolation have ensued.
Though Cyprus – the EU’s most easterly state – joined the bloc in 2004, the advantages of membership are solely utilized within the south and won’t prolong throughout the entire island till it’s reunified.
Erhürman, a professor of regulation, has pledged to discover a federal resolution – lengthy supported by the worldwide group – beneath which Greek and Turkish Cypriots would reside in a bi-communal, bi-zonal federation.
On listening to the end result of Sunday’s vote he immediately issued a message of unity, telling his compatriots he would embrace them no matter their occasion affiliation.
Sami Özuslu in Nicosia’s UN-patrolled buffer zone. {Photograph}: Helena Smith/The Guardian
Sami Özuslu, an MP in Erhürman’s major opposition Republican Turkish occasion, stated reunification talks can be again on the high of the agenda.
“We don’t have one other 5 years to waste,” he stated standing within the UN-patrolled buffer zone that bifurcates Nicosia, the island’s capital. “Mr Tatar was the worst president the Turkish Cypriots ever had. Not as soon as did he sit down on the negotiating desk, and look the place that obtained us. We want hope and solely Mr Erhürman can provide that.”
