Erdogan’s friendly candidate wins elections in northern Cyprus



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Turkey-backed candidate Ersin Tatar wins the presidential election in the unrecognized breakaway region of northern Cyprus.

Tatar gets 51.7 percent of the vote in the decisive second round of elections, media reports.

Tartarus is the government in nearby Ankara, and was defended by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan before the elections.

Ankara welcomed the result shortly after the Tatar victory was completed.

Tatar has previously been appointed prime minister of the separatist section of northern Cyprus, whose status as a state has only been recognized by Turkey. He advocates a two-state solution for the island.

Tatar defeated incumbent President Mustafa Akinci in the second and final round of elections. Akinci is seen as more open to trying to negotiate a solution for the divided island.

Attempts to reunite Cyprus has been going on since 1974, when a Greek-backed military coup on the island caused Turkey to invade the northern part of Cyprus.

The southern Greek Cypriot part with its internationally recognized government in Nicosia represents the whole of Cyprus in the EU.

Greece considers the Turkish Cypriot part of the north to be occupied.


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