Devlet Bahçeli, leader of Turkey's Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and a key partner in the ruling conservative coalition, has issued a striking call for the internationally unrecognized, breakaway entity, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) to unite with Turkey. This demand comes in the wake of the recent presidential election in the internationally unrecognized TRNC, which saw center-left candidate Tufan Erhürman secure a decisive victory.
According to unofficial results reported by Anadolu Agency, Tufan Erhürman, leader of the Republican Turkish Party (CTP), was elected as the new president of the TRNC, garnering approximately 62.8% of the votes. The incumbent, Ersin Tatar, who ran as an independent, received around 35.77%.
Bahçeli, whose party is allied with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's Justice and Development Party (AKP) in Turkey, expressed strong dissatisfaction with the election outcome and the voter participation. "The results of the election held in the TRNC occurred with very low participation. The destiny of Turkish Cypriots cannot be represented by this participation," Bahçeli stated in an announcement from the MHP.
He further urged the TRNC parliament to convene urgently. "Even if the election result has been announced by the election board, the TRNC parliament should immediately convene, declare that the election results and the return to a federation cannot be accepted, and decide to join the Republic of Turkey," Bahçeli asserted.
Erhürman's victory marks a shift in the TRNC's political landscape. While his party, the CTP, has historically favored a federal solution for Cyprus, Bahçeli's statement unequivocally rejects such a path and advocates for complete integration with Turkey.