Outgoing Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar on Sunday night lamented “internal party problems” within the three political parties which endorsed his re-election campaign after suffering a landslide defeat to pro-reunification candidate Tufan Erhurman in the day’s Turkish Cypriot leadership election.
“I ran as an independent candidate with the support of three parties. However, it appears that some internal difficulties and divisions between the parties were reflected in the election results,” he told Kibris TV.
He said he has “served our country relentlessly for five years” since being elected to the office in 2020, and that “our work speaks for itself”, but that despite this, “we must respect the voters’ discretion”.
“We have left behind new works for our country. We have always maintained strong relations with the Republic of Turkey We have worked day and night for the country’s development, infrastructure investments, and international visibility,” he said.
He went on to lament that he was unable to open a crossing point during his time in office, in turn becoming the only Turkish Cypriot leader since 1974 to leave office without doing so, saying that “despite the obstructions from the Greek Cypriot side, we made efforts to open crossing points, but the necessary steps were not taken”.
Later, he spoke about how he served as Turkish Cypriot leader through “the pandemic, global crises, the February 6 [2023] earthquakes, the effects of wars”, and that “we have made great efforts to keep the state afloat during all these processes”.
However, he said, “the high cost of living, population movements, social unrest … I think the president is sometimes held responsible for these”, before defending his record in the international arena.
“For the first time, I sat in international meetings under our own flag as the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. I addressed the world. Our relations with Turkey have developed in every field,” he said.
He concluded his interview by congratulating Erhurman on his victory, and saying, “may these results be beneficial for our country and for our people”.
Meanwhile, the north’s ‘prime minister’ Unal Ustel told journalists that there are “lessons to be learned from the ballot box” in light of the crushing defeat for the candidate his ruling coalition had endorsed.
He added that he would “evaluate the message given by the public” and “make the necessary statements in the coming days”.
‘Transport minister’ and leader of ruling coalition party the YDP Erhan Arikli was less conciliatory, firing a verbal shot across Erhurman’s bows.
“I hope the [CTP’s] base does not get too carried away by the victory. The promises made are clear. The public will definitely follow up on these promises and hold them accountable,” he said.
However, he said that in Erhurman’s landslide victory, “the will of the people has manifested”, and promised to “provide the necessary support” to him.
He also criticised Tatar, the candidate he had endorsed, describing elements of his campaign as “surprising”, and saying that “it is clear that we made very serious tactical mistakes during this process”.
On this matter, he said that he would have preferred for each of the ruling coalition’s three parties to run their own candidate in the first round at least, but that “that did not happen”.
“The right needed a candidate who could garner the protest votes. When we formed an alliance in the first round, the protest votes shifted to the other side. The damage is done. We will evaluate these matters more calmly later,” he said.
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