Turkish energy company Aksa reacted with fury over reports that it had financed a Turkish Cypriot leadership election poll which showed opposition candidate Tufan Erhurman to hold a 14-per-cent lead over incumbent Ersin Tatar.

The poll was published by online newspaper Havadis, which, on the front page of its Monday issue, ran the headline “Erhurman wins at a canter”.

It wrote that “it has been claimed that the results of a presidential election survey conducted in the TRNC with the financing of Aksa caused a crisis between presidential candidate Ersin Tatar and the UBP, one of the parties in government”.

“A UBP source who spoke to Havadis about the issue stated that the poll showed Tufan Erhurman winning the election with 57 per cent of the vote and that Tatar then called the prime minister Unal Ustel and shouted at him,” it added.

Related Articles

Aksa was incensed by the report, describing it as “fake news”, and latter adding that “the allegations in question are completely untrue and have no concrete basis”.

“Aksa … continues to operate in its sector and in its core area of activities. Our company conducts all its activities in this area with an ethical, transparent, and value-added approach,” it said.

It added, “we reserve our legal rights and have initiated the necessary legal proceedings before the judicial authorities against these unfounded allegations, which damage the reputation of our company”.

Meanwhile, newspaper Kibris, which is known to have close ties to Aksa after its buyout by a consortium led by Turkish businessman Fatih Buyuktopcu in 2022, wrote an article of its own condemning Havadis, describing the article as “a lie and a fabrication”.

“This news, which was completely fabricated and based on lies, included the results of the surveys made up on the fly about Ersin Tatar … and Tufan Erhurman,” it said, adding that the report “should not be taken seriously”.

“It is known that such reports, which are fabricated using figures which do not reflect reality, frequently appear on some websites during election periods and disregard the mission of accurate and impartial reporting, and engage in deliberate and manipulative publications. The public is urged to disregard such manipulative news,” it said.

No polls have been shared with the public since April, when Turkish research company Genar reported that Tatar held a slender 1.9-per-cent lead over Erhurman.

Before that, all polls had predicted that the election would be a closely fought two horse race between the pair.

Tatar has been endorsed by all three ruling coalition parties, the UBP, the DP, and the YDP, while Erhurman has thus far been endorsed by his own party, the CTP, as well as fellow opposition party the TDP, as well as independent members of the north’s ‘parliament’.

The election is set to take place on October 19.