NORTHERN CYPRUS basked in sunny sabbatical calm yesterday while voters risked the reunification of the island and Turkey’s bid for EU membership by electing nationalist Dervis Eroglu to the presidency of the breakaway Turkish Cypriot state.
Mr Eroglu, the current prime minister, won by a whisker in one round by taking 50.38 per cent of the vote. Incumbent Mehmet Ali Talat trailed with 42.85.
Turkish Cypriots and mainland Turkish settlers, now a majority, trickled into polling stations in schools in cities and towns across the north.
Ahmet, a Turkish Cypriot who had lived in London for 15 years, summed up the view of many when he told The Irish Times, "It doesn't matter who wins. Turkey decides." He and the half dozen friends standing outside the Democratic Primary School in northern Nicosia sloped off without participating. Many who cast ballots at the school were middle-class Turkish Cypriots voting for Talat, but there were a few women from the mainland, identified by headscarves and long skirts. A large proportion of settlers voted for Eroglu because they fear a deal would compel many to go back to Turkey.
The campaign was soured by intimidation by Eroglu loyalists and interference by mainland Turkey’s political parties. Ankara’s secular and right-wing opposition parties backed Eroglu, who calls for independence or separate sovereignty in a loose confederation, options rejected by Greek Cypriots. Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of the ruling Justice and Development Party called on voters to back the candidate ready to promote reunification, indicating a preference for Talat.
Although he met the president of Cyprus, Demetris Christofias, in 70 negotiating sessions over the past 19 months, Mr Talat lost because he failed to achieve major progress toward reunification of the island, divided since 1974 when Turkey occupied the north.
Mr Talat pleaded in vain for more time to produce a final deal involving reunification in a bizonal, bicommunal federation with a single sovereignty, citizen- ship and profile. But he was not given that time.
Although Mr Eroglu says he is ready to return to talks with Christofias, he argues that negotiations should start from scratch rather than where they were broken off ahead of the election. This is unacceptable to Greek Cypriots. Consequently, Mr Talat’s defeat is also a defeat for Mr Christofias, who has pledged not to stand for a second term if reunification talks fail, and a blow to Mr Erdogan, who faces parliamentary elections in the fall.
Unless Ankara, the recognised authority in the north, intervenes decisively, Mr Eroglu’s succession as Turkish Cypriot negotiator could stymie UN-brokered negotiations. If an agreement is not reached soon, de facto partition of the island is expected to harden and the Cyprus republic and Greece, both EU members, are likely to veto Turkey’s admission to the bloc.
