Turkish Cypriot ‘prime minister’ Unal Ustel continues to face criticism from both inside and outside his ruling coalition over his handling of attempts to cut payments of the cost-of-living allowance for some public sector workers, after having announced that the matter will not be debated in the Turkish Cypriot legislature in the coming week.
The fiercest criticism came from Serhat Akpinar, the secretary-general of junior coalition partner party the DP, who decried “the lack of transparency in the process and the failure to utilise necessary consultation mechanisms among the government partners”.
He added that he and the rest of the DP had only learned of Ustel’s decision to postpone the legislature debate, which had initially been scheduled for Monday, through the media.
“This is unacceptable from the perspective of coalition governance. As we have stated before, the DP will not be a part of any process in which it is excluded from decision making, not informed in advance, and where consultation processes are not followed,” he said.
He added that Ustel’s informing of coalition partners is not a “political choice” but “a requirement of institutional respect, a shared approach to governance, and the seriousness of the state”.
Criticism also came from the legislature’s former chief legal advisor Ayse Ipciler, who expressed her distaste at Ustel’s decision to inform the media of his plans before making arrangements at the legislature itself.
“According to the parliamentary rules of procedure, the government may withdraw a bill from the agenda or have it referred back to the committee stage for further consideration. This is done by the government submitting a proposal orally or in writing at a plenary session,” she explained.
To this end, she said that it is “not permissible to say, ‘we have removed it from the parliamentary agenda, we will add it back later depending on the situation’”, adding, “there is no such method”.
On this front, ‘parliament speaker’ Ziya Ozturkler, who, like Ustel, belongs to the largest of the three coalition parties, the UBP, said that “the removal or postponement of the bills on the agenda will continue within the rules of procedure”, and that the legislature’s advisory board will convene on Monday to discuss the matter.
He said that he had spoken to Ustel after having returned to Cyprus from a working visit to Azerbaijan, and that “we agreed on the need to reduce tensions and create an atmosphere of reconciliation” after a week of protests saw police pepper spray demonstrators, who on one occasion entered the legislature building to call for the coalition’s resignation.
Meanwhile, ‘transport minister’ Erhan Arikli, who leads junior coalition partner party the YDP, also moved to defend Ustel, insisting that the coalition had not “backed down” over the issue.
“Instead, the aim is to ease tensions and seek a climate of compromise with both the opposition and the trade unions. If such a climate is reached, the bill will be sent back to the committee, finalised there, and then sent back to a plenary session,” he said.
However, the opposition remained less than convinced, with opposition party CTP leader Sila Usar Incirli saying that in unilaterally announcing that the bill will not be discussed this week, Ustel had “placed himself in the position of parliament speaker”.
“This approach, which disregards the most fundamental democratic principle of the separation of powers between the legislature and the executive, is unacceptable,” she said.
She added that instead of postponing the debate, Ustel should send the plans back to the legislature’s finance committee on Monday, “and a genuine consultation process should begin without delay”.
“Otherwise, another link will be added to this chain of errors,” she said.
Other opposition members were more pointed in their critique, with CTP deputy leader Erkut Sahali highlighting the fact that prior to Ustel’s announcement, it looked unlikely that Ustel would have the support of enough members of the legislature to be able to pass the bill this week.
“Is he saying, ‘I do not have the numbers, I cannot open parliament, so we shall have another look next week?’. As always, he said something, but it was still unclear,” he said.
He also pointed out that when Ozturkler had called a halt to proceedings on Thursday morning, he adjourned, rather than closed, the session, meaning that, in his view, unless the legislature reopens for the coalition to formally withdraw the bill, no other proceedings can go ahead in the legislature or its committees because a session is still ongoing.
Meanwhile, with the legislature not set to open on Monday morning, the trade unions announced that their planned general strike and protest will not go ahead, but expressed once again their distaste for Ustel.
“It is very clear that we, the trade unions, do not trust either Ustel or this government … We want it to be known that if a parliamentary session opens on Monday and continues from where it left off, we will immediately declare a nationwide general strike and come to parliament,” they said in a joint statement.
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