After decades of isolation … Turkish Cyprus rebels against Erdogan.
-
Roshan Amiri
- . February 11, 2020
- . Update: February 18, 2020 7:54 am
Since the Turkish invasion of Cyprus and its occupation of the northern part of the island in 1974, Turkish Cypriots have lived in stifling international isolation due to Ankara’s domination of the political decision and the inability of the Turkish Cypriots to pursue an independent policy of compromise with the internationally recognized part of Cyprus, but signs of change have begun to emerge since the election of Mustafa Akinci as the president of the “Northern Republic of Cyprus” in 2015, who has been trying since then to define the features of a new policy freed from the domination of the Turkish state, and this reflects growing feelings in the northern part of the island because of the domination of Ankara over the political decision of the Turkish Cypriots.
Akinci, 67, a veteran politician and former mayor of Northern Cyprus, is one of the biggest supporters of reconciliation with the Greek Cypriot government. Akinci won 60.5% of the votes to beat outgoing “President” Darwish Aruglu in the second round of elections. Akinci is working to make a gradual shift in the direction of politics on the island, and his first task is to get rid of the legacy of dependency devoted by the historical leader of the Turkish Cypriots, Rauf Denktash, who took over the Turkish part of the island from 1983 to 2005. Within this endeavor, Akinci recorded two positions Sadmin for Ankara: The first coincided with the Turkish aggression against northern Syria under the title “Spring of Peace” in 2019, describing it as “Spring of Blood”. He also referred to the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974 that it was “a war and bloodshed.”
And last week, the Turkish Cypriot leader expressed his fear of increased dependence on Ankara, which could lead to the annexation of the northern island of Cyprus to Turkey, considering that this would be terrible. In an interview published Thursday in the British Guardian newspaper, Akinci said that unifying the island remains the only viable solution in Cyprus.
He warned that in the event that this fails, the north will become increasingly dependent on Ankara, and this region may end up as a de facto Turkish province, describing this possibility as terrible. Akinci recalled Turkish deception when it annexed the Syrian Iskenderun Brigade in 1939, and it did so under the guise of establishing a neutral, independent state between Syria and Turkey, but Turkey soon annexed it to its borders. “I refuse to be Tivor Sukman second,” Akinci made this point, referring to the first and last president of the republic declared in Hatay Province (Iskenderun Brigade). In other statements,Akinji warned that the Republic of Northern Cyprus would face the fate of the Crimea, annexed by Russia.
The Turkish Cypriots’ position is complicated by the crisis facing the Turkish government in the Eastern Mediterranean. The water you are exploring belongs to Cyprus, and Turkey claims that the northern part of the island has the right to invest it.
Turkish Cypriots’ tendencies to accept reunification of the island have escalated, especially after Turkey’s increasing reliance on terrorist formations to achieve political goals. On several occasions, Akinji criticized Ankara’s support for the strict religious trends on the island. The main difference between Turkish Cyprus and Ankara is that the “Northern Republic of Cyprus” is founded on the principles of a secular state, which is intellectually closer to the Republican People’s Party, and it does not seek to turn the crisis on the island into a religious issue between Orthodox Muslims and Christians, contrary to Ankara’s desire, which has become In recent years, one of the region’s most prominent religious divisors. To see more about Arab News Latest, Arab Politics News
