The resolution demanding a two-state solution to the Cyprus problem which is set to be voted upon by the north’s ‘parliament’ next week is “nothing short of manipulation of the election”, Serdar Denktash, the son of late Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash, said on Thursday.
“Sending such a significant proposal to parliament so soon before the elections is nothing short of manipulation of the election,” he told the Cyprus Mail, with the Turkish Cypriot leadership election set to take place on October 19.
He added that the resolution is also “an attempt to eliminate” the north’s unilateral declaration of independence, signed by his father in 1983.
That declaration stated, among other things, that “the declaration of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus does not prevent two equal peoples and the governments they establish from re-establishing a partnership under the umbrella of a true federation”.
“If they were sincere, they would have debated this from all perspectives during normal times, not during the runup to an election. Any shortcomings or omissions would have been addressed, and a broad consensus would have been achieved before it was passed by parliament,” he said.
He added that the aim of the north’s ruling coalition, which is pushing the resolution, is “clear”: “to garner votes by creating chaos”.
To this end, he said that those arguing in favour of the resolution “do not believe in the state”, as “their only concern is playing politics in positions belonging to the state in which they do not believe”.
The resolution passed through the north’s ‘parliamentary’ legal affairs committee on Wednesday and is expected to go to a plenary session vote on either Monday or Tuesday next week, with ruling coalition members voting in its favour and opposition members voting against.
As such, the plenary session vote will take place just five or six days ahead of the Turkish Cypriot leadership election, when incumbent Ersin Tatar is set to be challenged by the CTP’s leader Tufan Erhurman, who advocates for a return to negotiations based on a federal solution.
Erhurman had said earlier this week that the resolution had “clearly” been put forward “for electoral purposes”, while also lamenting that “a serious issue like the Cyprus problem is being handled so frivolously out of fear of losing the election”
Then asked himself whether, if the resolution passes, it will cause problems for him if he is elected as Turkish Cypriot leader on October 19, he said “I read the text, I did not see any aspect of it which would preclude two equal constituent states” in a federal Cyprus.
Erhurman won the endorsement of Serdar Denktash last month, with Denktash saying at the time that the election “is not a matter of the heart, but of the mind and of logic”.
“Therefore, my support will be for Erhurman. He will not fight with Turkey, but he will not say ‘yes’ to everything either and he will provide a good environment for consultation,” he said.
He then offered scathing criticism for Tatar, saying, “you cannot even understand what one of these two candidates is saying”.
Previously, he had said that every time Tatar speaks, he feels ashamed, described Tatar as “an insult to Turkish Cypriot history”, and said he would never vote for him.
