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A new era is set to begin in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) as the opposition defeated incumbent President Ersin Tatar in Sunday’s elections.
Tufan Erhürman of the Republican Turkish Party (CTP) declared his victory at a rally in a public park late Sunday and underlined that their cooperation with Türkiye would continue.
Relations with Türkiye, described as “motherland” by some Turkish Cypriots on the divided island, loomed large at the election, next to another significant issue: The fate of the TRNC, unrecognized by most of the international community. Erhürman is warm to the idea of a bi-communal federation with Greek Cypriots controlling the southern parts of the island, while Tatar championed a two-state solution to decades-old questions, insisting on a fully sovereign state. Tatar’s views were in line with Ankara, which sees it as the only viable option for the TRNC to have a better international standing.
At a major park in the Turkish Cypriot capital Lefkoşa (Nicosia), Erhürman met his supporters waving Turkish Cypriot and Turkish flags for a post-election rally.
Erhürman adopted an all-embracing tone in his victory speech, where he said the TRNC would “never be divided or torn apart, but on the contrary, will unite.”
“I promise to reach out to everyone regardless of their views. We have a lot to do; we have a major struggle to fight internationally. I urge you to embrace each other,” Erhürman said. Political pundits interpreted Erhürman’s speech as an outreach to Turkish-born people who migrated to the island from Türkiye.
“It is not important to us where someone or their parents are born. We are all equals,” Erhürman told a fervent crowd.
The incoming president also thanked President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Vice President Cevdet Yılmaz and Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan for their messages congratulating him.
“Some people questioned if I would consult with Türkiye if I win. I always said this, but they ignored it. As our previous four presidents did, we will certainly consult with Türkiye in foreign policy, on the Cyprus question,” he said.
Except for founding President Rauf Denktaş, no president has served two terms in the TRNC. The elections have usually been a tight race between politicians from Erhürman’s CTP or the National Unity Party (UBP) of Tatar.
The island has been mired in a decades-long dispute between Greek and Turkish Cypriots, despite a series of diplomatic efforts by the U.N. to achieve a comprehensive settlement.
Ethnic attacks starting in the early 1960s forced Turkish Cypriots to withdraw into enclaves for their safety. In 1974, a Greek Cypriot coup aimed at Greece’s annexation led to Türkiye’s military intervention as a guarantor power to protect Turkish Cypriots from persecution and violence.
As a result, the TRNC was founded in 1983. The country is fully recognized only by Türkiye, which does not recognize the Greek Cypriot administration in the south.
The island has seen an on-and-off peace process in recent years, but negotiations have been stalled since 2017. Erhürman advocates resumption of the formal negotiations with the Greek Cypriot side. Tatar repeatedly met with Greek Cypriot leaders in informal talks brokered by the U.N., but those negotiations did not yield any concrete results for the final status of Cyprus.
President Erdoğan congratulated Erhürman within hours of the election win.
In a post on the Turkish social media platform NSosyal, Erdoğan said he hoped the vote would be beneficial for both countries and the broader region. “This election once again demonstrated the TRNC’s democratic maturity and reflected the will of our Turkish Cypriot brothers at the ballot box. Türkiye will continue to defend the TRNC’s sovereign rights and interests, together with the Turkish Cypriot people, on every platform,” he wrote.
Yılmaz also praised the election results, saying the election reaffirmed the political maturity of the TRNC and its citizens.
“The elections have once again shown the maturity of the TRNC as both a state and an electorate. As the motherland and guarantor country, we will continue to stand firmly by the TRNC and the Turkish Cypriot people,” Yilmaz said.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry issued a separate statement congratulating Erhürman, saying Türkiye, as the “motherland and guarantor,” would continue contributing to efforts to ensure the welfare and development of the Turkish Cypriot people “within the framework of its responsibilities.”
The Turkish main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), which enjoys close ties with CTP, also lauded the election results. The party’s chairperson, Özgür Özel, issued a social media post for congratulations on Sunday and personally called Erhürman on Monday. Though Erhürman did not make any comments on allegations by critics of Tatar who claimed Türkiye “worked” for securing a victory for Tatar, Özel was quick to claim Ankara resorted to “black propaganda” in favor of Tatar. Türkiye’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) Secretary-General Eyyüp Kadir Inan hit back at Özel’s implications that the party campaigned for Tatar’s win. “Cyprus only means dreams of a fake diploma (for the CHP), not the independence of Turkish Cypriots,” Inan said, referring to a fake diploma scandal involving CHP’s Istanbul mayor, Ekrem Imamoğlu, and a university in the TRNC. Inan said election results should not be used as a tool of manipulation against Türkiye.
“Türkiye and the TRNC are one and together as it was in the past,” Inan underlined in a social media post on Monday.
