NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) – A radical who won a Turkish Cypriot leadership election said Sunday he is ready to start passive talks aimed at ending Cyprus-ethnic racial segregation, as long as rival Greek Cypriots defeat Turkey.
Arisin Tatar, who supports fully coordinating Turkish Cypriot policies with regional patron Turkey, said any peace agreement should take into account the “realities” around and around the war-torn East Mediterranean island. Tatar spoke after defeating left-wing official Mustafa Akinsi in a runout.
“If our friends Greek and Greek Cypriots properly analyze the strategic, economic and social balance of our region, it will not be difficult to reach a settlement at the negotiating table,” he told Tatar supporters during a victory speech in the Cypriot half of Turkey. The Cypriot capital is Nicosia.
“They should know that if they continue this undisclosed attitude, we will not give up our rights.”
Tatar also called on the European Union and the United Nations to be “reasonable” and change the way they approach negotiations, as their previous approach has failed.
“You no longer ignore the rights of the Turkish Cypriot people,” Tatar said.
Cyprus was divided in 1974 when Turkey invaded Greece after a revolt by Union supporters. Only Turkey recognizes the broken Turkish Cypriot state in the north, which is economically and militarily dependent on Ankara. The island is the seat of the internationally recognized Greek Cypriot South of government and is part of the 27-nation European Union.
Turkey is a 60-year-old family of Turkish Cypriot political leaders who defeated Akinsi in a close contest surrounded by allegations of “unprecedented” interference by Turkey to get the challenger to vote.
Turkey’s Cypriot broadcaster BRT says that with 100% of the vote count, Tatar received 51.74% of the vote, compared to Akinci’s 48.26%.
Turkish Cypriot champion Akinsi, a 3-year-old Greek who opposed the full supremacy of his work in Turkey and was a supporter of the federal deal with the Greek Cypriots, praised his victory in a speech to supporters at his campaign headquarters, acknowledging Tatar defeat. .
“We went through an election contest that was not normal … These results mark the end of my 45-year political career.” “I greet our people.”
Tatar criticized him for “accusing the motherland of turning elections into a political tool” and proudly stated that “Turkey has always been with us.”
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan took to his official Twitter account to congratulate Tatar on his election victory.
“Turkey will continue all necessary efforts to protect the rights of Turkish Cypriot people,” Erdogan said.
Based on the federal structure, the U.N. Nearly five decades of reunification efforts have failed.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is expected to convene a meeting soon to rule out the possibility of resuming talks with both parties and Cyprus’s “guarantors” – Greece, Turkey and Britain.
Rebooting negotiations after Turkey reactivated a research ship near the Greek island of Castellorizo over the sea and energy rights of the closed sea from Greece and Cyprus will help ease tensions in the waters of Greece and Cyprus.
Turkey insists it has every legal right to find hydrocarbons in waters that Greece and Cyprus claim exclusive economic rights. The Greek and Cypriot governments accuse Turkey of violating international law. The dispute also raised fears of a military conflict between Greece and Turkey, which are members of NATO but are strong regional rivals.
Tatar said in an interview with the Associated Press last month that tensions would ease if Greek Cypriots agreed to split Cyprus’ territorial waters and drilling rights with Turkish Cypriots before formal peace talks resumed.
It also shares the Turkish government’s view that the federation may not be the most viable option and should pursue alternatives such as the two-state deal.
Earlier this month, Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman Hami Aksoy said Ankara would not join peace talks if Greek Cypriots did not agree to share decision-making power equally with minority Turkish Cypriots at all levels of the imaginary federal government. He said the alternative was to start talks on a two-state deal.
Analyst Tumay Tugian said he expects peace talks to now become more complicated with Tatar at the hearing.
But he said Turkey’s Cypriot party had committed itself to the federal model in previous negotiations and that it would be difficult to shift that base to something else.
Tugian said Turkish Cypriots’ relations with Turkey would change significantly, with “interference” making it “harder than ever.”
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