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Outgoing “President” Mustafa Akinci faces off against Turkey-backed candidate Ersin Tatar in a run-off of the unilaterally declared “presidential” elections in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, in a right in which two visions of peace compete with the party south of the Mediterranean island and the relationship with Ankara.
Nationalist Tatars got 32.46% of the vote, ahead of Akinci who got 29.73%, and Turvan Erhurman who won 21.62%, both Social Democrats in favor of unifying the divided island into a federal state, after counting 723 ballot boxes. Since 738.
And thus facing Akinci and Tatar in the second round, to be held on October 18, which Akinji is expected to win if the votes are cast, according to analysts.
These elections took place amid the tension witnessed by the record of exploration of energy resources in the eastern Mediterranean, especially between Ankara and Athens, the main ally of the Republic of Cyprus, which controls two-thirds of the island to the south and is a member of the European Union.
After Akinci, Tovan Erhurman was dissolved (with 21.62% of the votes), who is also a Social Democrat and also calls for the reunification of Cyprus as a federal state.
Maine Yussell, Prolog Council director for opinion polls, said: “Akinci is likely to win the second round with more than 55% of the vote” because of the polls, particularly those obtained by Erhurmann.
In front of the residence of the outgoing “president”, a few hundred supporters gathered and danced while clapping to the rhythm of local songs, some of them shouting: “We won.”
“These elections are fundamental to our destiny,” Akinci said after casting his vote, adding that the health of Turkish Cypriots raises his concern in light of the current epidemic crisis, but also the “political health” of the Republic of the North. from Cyprus.
Those who support the unification of the island and the relaxation of the northern ties with Ankara condemned the “Turkish interference” in the elections.
Turkey supports the nationalist Arsin Tatar (60 years old), who is currently the prime minister with broad powers under the laws of Northern Cyprus.
Activist Kemal Becali, founder of the non-governmental organization “Let’s join Cyprus now”, told France Presse: “The main issue of the elections is how we will define our relationship with Turkey in the future.”
Tatar said after his vote that “the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus and its people constitute a state … We deserve to live in light of equal sovereignty”, alluding to his support for the final division of the island between two states. .
Negotiations to unify the island repeatedly stalled, especially due to the problem of the withdrawal of some 30,000 Turkish soldiers deployed in the north.
Izzat Tolk, retired in his seventies, expressed his conviction that “these elections are important because we are going to elect the president who will negotiate with the Greek Cypriots on the future of Cyprus.”
“We want peace, but the other party does not accept us, they should recognize our rights if we go to peace,” said Ertan Senar, a retired banker who turns 75.
These elections took place after the opening of the beach of Varosha, in the east of the island, on Thursday, which had become a desolate city since the division of the island and its encirclement by the Turkish army.
Arsin Tatars announced the reopening of this city, which its Greek Cypriot residents abandoned in 1974, after speaking with Erdogan in Ankara on Tuesday.
Akinci criticized the move, and the Republic of Cyprus, along with the European Union and the United Nations, which monitors the buffer zone between the two halves of the island, condemned it.
Yektan Torkelmaz, a researcher at the Forum for Regional Studies in Germany, noted that many Turkish Cypriots felt that “the matter affected their honor and identity” due to what they saw as interference from Ankara, even though the reopening of the city was nothing more than a symbolic decision.
The elections were also held in an environment of economic crisis amplified by the Covid-19 epidemic. Northern Cyprus has officially recorded more than 800 COVID-19 cases since the start of the crisis, including four deaths.
