The north’s ruling coalition is facing a series of headaches as this year’s Turkish Cypriot leadership campaign officially gets underway, with its rapid-fire handing out of civil service jobs, citizenships, land, and in particular firearms licences in the days leading up to the pre-election cutoff point on Saturday.

In total, 600 people were handed firearms licences in the hours leading up to the formal beginning of the “pre-election period” at midnight on Saturday, with firearms licences among the various pieces of paperwork now off limits to the ruling coalition.

One of the loudest voices of criticism was Turkish Cypriot Lapithos, Karavas, and Myrtou mayor Firat Ataser, historically a member of ruling coalition party the DP, who won the support of all three ruling coalition parties at the north’s most recent local elections in December 2022.

“What are all these gun licences? This country is neither accustomed to nor fond of such decisions and behaviours. Hundreds of people have been granted gun licences. This is not Texas. This is a country where people live in peace and security,” he said.

He added that the handing out of so many firearms licences “encourages criminal gangs” and provides “those with criminal tendencies” more freedom to perform criminal acts.

However, ‘prime minister’ Unal Ustel on Monday insisted that “a large proportion of the permits are related to the police”, and that all other firearms licences are only granted “after a comprehensive review”.

“Everyone who completes their military service in southern Cyprus is sent home with an automatic weapon. Around 130,000 people in the south have automatic weapons in their homes. We strive to meet our police’s needs in every respect,” he said.

Opposition party CTP ‘MP’ Urun Solyali said “the abundance of firearms licences does not make the public feel safe”, accusing the ruling coalition of being “irresponsible”.

“There is zero trust in this mentality. There are no criteria for granting firearms licences, no psychological testing, no report on whether the licence holder knows how to use one,” he said.

Away from the matter of firearms licences, the Cyprus Turkish rental vehicle operators’ association (Kaib) announced that it would take the ruling coalition to court after a flurry of rental car operation permits were handed out in the hours leading up to the pre-election cutoff point.

Kaib chairman Yakup Serdaroglu accused the ruling coalition of “trampling on this sector for its own ambitions and political purposes”, and said that it had acted “despotically”.

In a similar vein, the Cyprus Turkish tourism and travel agencies association (Kitsab) demanded that the ruling coalition revoke a raft of taxi and coach operation permits, which it said had been issued to “spouses, friends and party members” of the ruling coalition.

“These decisions are a heavy blow to the tourism sector, which is already experiencing significant difficulties. This arbitrary decision, made by excluding representatives of the tourism sector and ignoring the sector’s needs, is unacceptable,” it said.

This demand was later on Monday heeded by ‘transport minister’ Erhan Arikli, who announced in a post on social media post that he had ordered that the distribution of taxi and coach operation permits be halted after the initial move “sparked significant public debate”.

Friday and Saturday had also seen the ruling coalition naturalise 129 people, while newspaper Yeniduzen reported on Saturday that 86 people were hired into the north’s civil service in the days leading up to the election.

These decisions prompted a wave of resignations from the grassroots of the ruling coalition’s largest party, the UBP, over the weekend.

Ustel had responded to these resignations, too, saying that “wherever there is work, there will be criticism”.

“The UBP is the most established, the most organised, and the party most supported by its members. No one should doubt that we will overcome these problems with our strong structure,” he said.

While Turkish Cypriot leader and former leader of the UBP Ersin Tatar is yet to comment on the flurry of activity before the pre-election cutoff or the fallout since, he did appear at the Turkish Cypriot youth congress on Sunday, appearing less than impressed after his election opponent Tufan Erhurman received a warmer reception from the congress’ attendees.

“I have noticed, you applauded me less. I congratulate you on your choice,” he said during his speech.

The election is set to take place on October 19.