Front Page Headlines
‘Let’s protect democracy’
Yenidüzen asked the questions, MPs, journalists and former ministers answered. All said that our community wasn’t without leadership but that the country’s democracy was trampled on by the latest developments which took place within the National Unity Party (UBP). The joint view expressed is that civil society organisations and political parties must act immediately to defend the country’s democracy.
- Faiz Sucuoğlu’s first statement after withdrawing from the leadership race which he was winning: “I was forced to accept the decision for the cancellation of the second round”
- Saner: There are four government scenarios – President Ersin Tatar will be tasking the UBP General Secretary Ersan Saner with forming the new government.
Steps are being taken for the new government
The cancellation of the second round of elections at UBP aimed at electing a new party leader resulted in a political crisis in the country. The process is being accelerated in order not to leave the country without a government. President Tatar is expected to assign the UBP’s acting leader Ersan Saner the task of forming a new government.
- We came for education, but we are now helpless due to financial problems – Three men and three women who were arrested on charges of illegally trying to cross to South Cyprus near the Beyarmudu (Pergamos) Primary School, asked the court the help them.
- Price hike in bottled gas puts minimum wage earners in difficulty – The price of bottled gas used at homes was raised by ₺22 (€2.2) to reach ₺90 (€9). This added to the economic woes of many who are trying to survive on a minimum wage income.
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Four different scenarios
Ersan Saner who is expected to be tasked today (Saturday) with forming the new government will give priority to the People’s Party (HP). The total number of MPs in a possible UBP-HP coalition will be 29. The total number of MPs in a possible UBP-CTP (Republican Turkish Party) coalition will be 41. In the event of an UBP-CTP-HP coalition, ministers could be appointed outside of parliament with both CTP and HP giving support. The fourth scenario is the UBP-YDP-(Rebirth Party)-DP (Democratic Party) and Denktaş. The number of MPs in such a coalition would be 25.
Covering up Ankara’s interference
Faiz Sucuoğlu, who was forced to withdraw from the race for the party’s leadership due to Ankara’s pressure and threats, said: “I had to approve (the decision to call off the second round). Even though everything was transpiring before everyone’s eyes, no one at UBP is openly admitting Ankara’s interference.” Sucuoğlu said he withdrew from race “to protect the party’s unity and peace.”
- UBP will choose its partner – Time for forming a new government. According to Saner, there are four scenarios for the government. Erhürman said the party will evaluate the proposal to be made by UBP. People’s Party (HP) wants a coalition that will embrace the people. Özyiğit said he will not be a part of formations created through outside interference. Ataoğlu asked for the process to move on swiftly whereas Arıklı said he will not participate in the government unless there is an early election.
- 234 positive coronavirus cases in the south and two in the north.
Main News
Reasons to withdraw from UBP race fans more speculation
Yenidüzen, Kıbrıs, Havadis, Diyalog, Avrupa
Governance & Power Sharing
OVERVIEW
The decision by the National Unity Party (UBP) on Thursday to call off the second round of its elections to choose a new leader continued to create waves within the party and political circles in the north.
Both candidates Hasan Taçoy and Faiz Sucuoğlu had announced that they were withdrawing from their race amid speculation that Ankara had not approved of Sucuoğlu’s election as new UBP leader.
He had received the highest number of votes in the first round.
Instead, the decision has paved the way for another extraordinary congress to be held in the next 45 days.
UBP MP Zorlu Töre, who was appointed as the ‘Chairman of Congress,’ said he was saddened with the developments within the party.
Töre, speaking during a morning news programme on Genç TV, expressed the view that the congress should either be completed or should not have been organised in the first place.
“I did not know that the party congress would be postponed until Thursday morning. There had been some late-night meetings the day before and the two candidates had expressed their intention to withdraw from the race,” Töre said.
Asked to comment on claims that Ankara had interfered in the leadership elections, Töre refrained from commenting, admitting that he too had heard the same rumours.
“I believe the claims not to be true. There could be ‘recommendations’ in conversations held but these cannot be described as interference,” Töre said.
He added regardless of what anyone says, what happened was not normal.
Töre reminded that the candidates had made their intentions known first verbally and then in writing.
“Thus the claims that the party forced them to quit is not true,” he said, adding that both had publicly announced their reasons for quitting the race.
“We have nothing more left to do than to protect their political will,” Töre concluded.
In the meantime, Sucuoğlu in a statement on Friday said he had accepted the decision to call off the second round to preserve the party’s unity.
He said there was already a consensus on cancelling the second round among the UBP MPs.
“At the point of time, I had to make a very critical decision to protect the party’s unity and peace, I was left with no choice but to approve the decision, which the other members of the party had given their consent to and which there was a consensus on,” Sucuoğlu said.
He added: “I am aware of the disappointment this decision caused within the party and in my country.”
Sucuoğlu concluded by noting that he will continue to work for “better” days within the party.
The developments within UBP also broke Kudret Özersay’s silence on Friday.
The former HP leader and deputy prime minister had been relatively silent since his party quit the coalition just days before the presidential elections in the north.
Özersay, in a post on social media, said the developments at UBP could no longer be regarded as just an ‘internal matter.’
He noted neither UBP nor the Turkish Cypriot community deserved the recent interference and meddling in its domestic politics.
“The foreign interference in the electoral processes reduces the importance of politics, rendering it meaningless,” Özersay said.
He also warned that the issue could not be perceived simply as ‘karma’ for UBP.
“The state institutions are being weakened, democratic processes are losing their value and the people’s political will is being disregarded,” Özersay stressed.
He also pointed out the statements made by the two candidates regarding their withdrawal from the race did not satisfy the public either, which reinforced suspicions and the belief that other things are going on behind closed doors.
“We all must be bothered by the not-so-normal situation in the north,” Özersay said, stating that what has happened to the UBP today could happen to any other political party in the future.
“You owe the Turkish Cypriot community the facts and an explanation,” Social Democratic Party (TDP) said on Friday.
In a written statement the TDP Central Executive Board, which had convened to discuss the developments that take place within UBP, said that “what had transpired before the very eyes of the community could no longer be perceived as just an internal matter of UBP.”
“Personal political ambitions opened the way for meddling which then destroyed democracy. At a time when people were waiting for UBP to complete its congress, and to form the next government, UBP decided to prolong the process due to unknown reasons. No one has the right to embarrass or make the Turkish Cypriot community suffer,” TDP said.
The party urged the two candidates – Sucuoğlu and Taçoy – to make public the details of the issue.
“Election meddling is obvious. Those who kept quiet during the presidential elections are responsible for what is going on within UBP today,” the TDP concluded.
Also on Friday, Turkish Cypriot President Ersin Tatar met with the heads of the political parties with seats in the Turkish Cypriot parliament.
Tatar met with the acting president of UBP, Ersan Saner; Republican Turkish Party (CTP) leader Tufan Erhürman; HP leader Yenal Senin; TDP leader Cemal Özyiğit and Democratic Party (DP) leader Fikri Ataoğlu as well as the leader of the Rebirth Party (YDP) leader Erhan Arıklı to discuss prospects concerning the formation of a new coalition government.
Tatar later on Friday said that he would be tasking Saner with the duty of forming the new government.
Tatar complains of unfair treatment of TCs
Yenidüzen, Kıbrıs, Havadis, Diyalog, Avrupa
Negotiations Process, Economy, Regional/International Relations
OVERVIEW
Turkish Cypriot president Ersin Tatar on Friday questioned why the government in the north should not use the fenced-off city of Maraş (Varosha), which he added was within the north’s borders, to develop the Turkish Cypriot economy.
Tatar, in a speech at the general congress of the Turkish Cypriot Hoteliers’ Association (KITOB) on Friday, said that the opening of Maraş (Varosha) gave the strong message that tourism was the main locomotive sector of the Turkish Cypriot economy.
“The resort town of Maraş (Varosha) as a holiday destination generated half of the entire island’s national income before 1974,” Tatar said. Now this resort town today is located within the TRNC’s borders. The fenced-off town had been kept for 46 years to be used as a concession in the event of a comprehensive settlement but there is no hope for such a solution anymore,” Tatar argued.
He said the reopening of Maraş (Varosha) entails the return of the properties to the lawful owners through the Immovable Property Commission (IPC) and these properties will come into use again.
“The former owners can either settle in the town and use their properties, or lease or sell them allowing other investors to come. What’s important is to utilise the now fenced-off town for the development of the TRNC economy,” Tatar said.
Tatar, also, congratulated the hoteliers for their success to date despite the absence of direct flights to the north.
“TRNC has become a well-known name globally in tourism despite the absence of direct flights, tourists continued to come to the north until the pandemic,” Tatar argued.
Touching on his meeting with the Greek Cypriot leader Nicos Anastasiades on November 3, Tatar said he had told Anastasiades that the Greek Cypriot side had been preventing direct flights to the north for 46 years.
“I have told Anastasiades he is obstructing the direct flights and I have also told him that the Greek Cypriot side has unfairly usurped the Republic of Cyprus (RoC) through UN Security Council (UNSC) resolution 186,” Tatar said.
He added that the resolution allowed the Greek Cypriot side to veto direct flights to the north.”
“This is unfair on the Turkish Cypriots. At the end of the day, impeding our economy will not contribute to the efforts to find a solution on the island,” Tatar stressed.
He also said that he has told the Greek Cypriot leader that the Turkish Cypriots will never accept an imposed solution.
“If there is going to be a solution to the Cyprus problem, it will have to be based on sovereign equality and based on a system in which the Turkish Cypriots will govern themselves. It will no doubt ensure the continuation of Turkey’s guarantees,” Tatar said.
He added that Anastasiades, responding to his statements, said: “If he were to allow direct flights, it would mean the recognition of the TRNC. I told him that whether you recognize it or not, there is a state in the north and it is the TRNC,” Tatar concluded.
KEY ACTORS
Tatar
>> Why shouldn’t Maraş (Varosha) be used to develop TC economy?
>> The opening of Maraş (Varosha) gives a strong message that tourism is TC economy’s main locomotive sector.
>> No point in keeping Maraş (Varosha) fenced off as comprehensive settlement cannot be reached.
>> Plans to reopen Maraş (Varosha) entails the return of the properties to the lawful owners through the IPC.
>> The owners can either settle in the town & use their properties, or lease or sell them allowing other investors to come.
>> What’s important is to utilise the now fenced-off town for the development of the TC economy.
>> North has become a well-known tourism destination despite the absence of direct flights.
>> Impeding TC economy will not contribute to the efforts to find a solution on the island.
>> The TCs will never accept an imposed solution.
>> The solution to the Cyprob must to be based on sovereign equality & based on a system in which the TCs will govern themselves & ensure the continuation of Turkey’s guarantees.