Elections in Northern Cyprus

The Northern Cypriot Turkish Republic was established in 1983 as an attempt to respond to the intransigence of the Greek Cypriot side in accepting political equality between the Turkish and Greek communities on the island. At the time, Rauf Denktaş, the popular and immovable leader of the Turkish community in Cyprus was presiding over the destiny of the Turkish part of the island, heavily influencing Turkish foreign policy. It is also worth remembering that back in 1983, Turkey was very slowly recovering from a very structured and deep-reaching coup d'état staged by the military high command. Turkey's foreign policy margin of manoeuvring was drastically lessened, due to the absence of the democratic legitimacy of the regime.

One of the most visible examples of Turkey's diminished influence in the international arena was the readmission of Greece into the military command of NATO. After the Turkish military operation back in 1974 in Cyprus, the Greek army was tempted to attack Turkey twice in a limited conflict, as retaliation. This did not happen the first time when there was a military junta governing the country, because they did not think that a second military disaster after Cyprus would be bearable for Greek society and so they disbanded. The second attempt was contemplated by the civilian Greek national union government, after the dismembering of the military junta, when Turkey intervened a second time on the island, alerted by information of mass killings in the Greek-Cypriot-administered areas. This time, the Greek authorities did not trust their army and definitely, in both cases, the U.S. administration took a very tough stance against Greece to prevent two NATO countries going to war. This would have been a first, and would probably harm NATO deterrence once and for all.

The Greek government decided to stay out of NATO's military wing, as the U.S. and other NATO allies were unwilling or incapable of stopping Turkey. Therefore, Greece spent about seven years outside of the military wing of NATO, when the Turkish army staged a coup d'état. In the aftermath of the coup d'état, the Turkish government was not strong enough to use its veto on the readmission of Greece into NATO's military wing, and so it was accepted as part of the military wing, despite the confessions of Kenan Evren, who complained that General Bernard William Rogers, Supreme Allied Commander of NATO forces in Europe, did not fulfil his promise to neutralise Greece regarding a possible solution in Cyprus.

So the Northern Turkish Cypriot Republic was born out of a delicate diplomatic move, but the solution for the reunification of the island has been so delayed that the self-proclaimed republic, despite not having been recognised internationally, structured itself as a full-fledged state, thanks to the economic, political and military support of Turkey.

Turkey is holding KKTC above the sea of instability and conflicts that could occur on the island once the Turkish presence vanishes. Its aim has been to look for a regime, acceptable to all, based on a bi-zonal, bi-communal federal system, with political equality between the two components of the island. This objective has not been attained yet, and Turkey has a moral and human duty to continue to safeguard the lives, honor and belongings of the Turkish Cypriots, as it has been doing for the last 41 years.

The newly elected president of Northern Cyprus, Mustafa Akıncı, is an old and experienced Cypriot politician, known for the frankness and toughness of his discourse. He wanted to make his presidency visible very rapidly, by talking about the "equality" between Turkey and the KKTC. The answer has been very blunt on the part of the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who recalled that Northern Cyprus, called the "infant land," exists because of the moral and practical duties of Turkey. The latter is the only viable guarantee for the stability and survival of the Turkish Cypriot community, and unless a solution is established on the island, this will continue to be so. This has been the first incident between Turkey and the new Northern Cypriot Presidency, let us hope that it is the last.