Voters in the tiny breakaway Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) cast their ballots yesterday in critical parliamentary elections which could impact the EU's enlargement process and Turkey's own bid to join the European club.
The electorate of some 141,000 people will decide whether to keep in office nationalists who reject a UN plan to reunite them with rival Greek Cypriots, or vote in pro-EU forces who have pledged to negotiate the peace plan in a bid to ensure that a united Cyprus joins the EU next year.
PHOTO: AFP
The Union will admit only the internationally-recognized Greek Cypriot side if the question of the 29-year-old division of the Mediterranean island is not resolved by next May when the Republic of Cyprus joins the EU, along with nine other mostly ex-communist countries.
Many fear such a prospect will trigger tensions with Turkey, itself a membership candidate.
Turkish troops, which have held the north since 1974 when they intervened in response to a Greek Cypriot coup aimed at uniting Cyprus with Greece, will find themselves in the position of an occupying power of EU territory once Cyprus becomes a member.
EU leaders meeting at a summit in Brussels Friday told Ankara a settlement of the problem would "greatly facilitate" its membership aspirations.
The unprecedented stakes have sharply polarized Turkish Cypriots, setting the stage for a fierce race, in which everybody -- from newspapers and TV stations to civic groups and trade unions -- have taken sides.
Hardline Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash, the mentor of the europhobic ruling forces, has fuelled pre-election tensions by threatening to deny the opposition the prime minister's mandate even if it wins.
The opposition is capitalizing on growing exasperation among Turkish Cypriots, who have long suffered international isolation and economic problems, while watching their Greek neighbors prosper across the UN-manned buffer zone.
"This is an election which will determine not only our own fate, but also the fate of Cyprus and Turkey's relations with Greece and the European Union," said Mustafa Akinci, head of the opposition Peace and Democracy Movement (BDH).
Mehmet Ali Talat, who leads the strongest opposition force, the Republican Turkish Party (CTP), is confident of victory: "The status quo will be destroyed in the name of our children's future and in order to unblock Turkey's road to the EU. There is no other way of salvation."
The CTP, the BDH and a third partner, the Solution and EU Party, have agreed to cooperate after the polls, if they win parliamentary majority, in order to oust Denktash from his post of chief negotiator in peace talks with the Greek Cypriots.
A die-hard Turkish nationalist, Denktash rejected the UN peace plan in March arguing that it would spell the end of his statelet, reduce Turkey's influence in the island and lead to the displacement of thousands of Turkish Cypriots from territories that would be handed over to the Greek Cypriot side.
The plan, drawn up by Secretary General Kofi Annan, envisages the island's reunification in a federation of two equal component states, territorial adjustments in favor of the Greek Cypriot majority and the departure of most Turkish troops from the north.
The two ruling parties -- the National Unity Party (UBP) of Dervis Eroglu and the Democrat Party of Denktash's son Serdar -- portray the plan as an EU plot to put the minority Turkish Cypriots under Greek Cypriot dominance.
They claim it will bring back the days of bloody ethnic violence in Cyprus which preceded the Turkish invasion.
Turkish Cypriots blame their Greek co-islanders for the bloodshed and say Turkey's intervention saved them from extermination.
"The efficient guarantees of motherland Turkey are indispensable. It must not be forgotten that the tragedies and suffering in Bosnia and Kosovo took place in front of Europe's eyes," UBP election ads say.
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