Serdar Denktash, the son of influential late Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash, on Wednesday said that every time incumbent Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar speaks, he feels ashamed.

“Every time the head of the Republic speaks, I feel ashamed. This is an insult to Turkish Cypriot history,” he told Kibris Genc TV.

He was also asked about his own political ambitions ahead of this October’s Turkish Cypriot leadership election, and said, “I said I would establish a party, I did not say whether I would be a candidate”.

On this matter, he promised that he would not split the vote on the Turkish Cypriot right.

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“I will not split the vote, but I will never vote for Tatar. Those who tell me not to run and not to split the votes are very interesting. I have seen a poll. My not being a candidate actually benefits [opposition party CTP candidate] Tufan Erhurman. It gives him a nine-point boost,” he said.

Denktash’s comments come as the election campaign kicks into full swing, with Tatar having formally launched his campaign on Monday evening.

Tatar’s candidacy has been endorsed by all three parties which make up the north’s ruling coalition, the UBP, Denktash’s former party the DP, and the YDP.

At the launch event, he alled on the Turkish Cypriots to “unite around our common goal”, adding that “many games are being played against us, but we will maintain our unity and solidarity, put aside our differences, and manage the upcoming process together”.

“The Turkish Cypriot people will never be left without a state or a republic. We will continue this honourable fight together.”

Erhurman had been announced as the CTP’s candidate during the party’s conference in April. This October’s election will also be his second run for the office, with him having finished third in 2020, winning just shy of 21.7 per cent of the vote, and endorsing then incumbent Mustafa Akinci in the second round.

Tatar and Erhurman have been trading the lead in election polling, with the most recent poll, conducted by Turkish research company Genar and published last month, seeing Tatar lead the way, polling at 37.9 per cent, while Erhurman remains close behind on 36 per cent of the vote.

Were Tatar to win re-election, he would be the first Turkish Cypriot leader to do so since Rauf Denktash won by default in 2000 after his second-round opponent Dervish Eroglu withdrew his candidacy.

Since then, Denktash did not stand for re-election and was replaced by Mehmet Ali Talat in 2005, Talat was beaten by Eroglu in 2010, Eroglu was beaten by Mustafa Akinci in 2015, and Akinci was beaten by Tatar in 2020.