‘Poll shows there can’t be a federal solution’
President Tatar commented after the far-right party Elam picked up 6.8% of the vote in South’s general election
THE results from Sunday’s general election in South Cyprus show that there cannot be a solution in Cyprus on a federal basis, President Tatar said this week.
Mr Tatar made the comment after the far-right Greek Cypriot National Popular Front (Elam), which has been linked to Greek neo-Nazis, doubled its number of seats from two to four of the 56 available, picking up 6.8 per cent of the votes.
Elam leader Christos Christou claimed his party, which is against forming a federation with Turkish Cypriots, was the biggest winner of the election night. He said he will fight for citizens’ rights and against corruption.
Democratic Rally (Disy) and communists the Progressive Party of Working People (Akel) emerged as the two biggest parties, but their support fell compared to the 2016 election.
Disy, with 27.77 per cent of the votes, and Akel (22.3 per cent) lost a seat each, down to 17 and 15 seats respectively.
The Cyprus Green Party (Kosp) increased its seats to three with 4.41 per cent of the ballots cast. A total of seven parties surpassed the 3.6 per cent threshold required to enter Parliament.
‘EXTREMISM RISING’
“I see that these election results once again confirm what we say, that there can no longer be an agreement on a federal basis in Cyprus,” Mr Tatar said.
“Nationalist extremism is on the rise in the South, while left-wing Akel, which supports a federal solution, has retreated, a negative development as regards a just, lasting, and viable agreement.
“The most frightening thing is that Elam gets its votes from the youth. The reason for this is the fact that the education system in the Greek Cypriot administration includes extremist nationalism, Greek admiration, the view that Cyprus is a Greek island, and admiration of the [Greek Cypriot] terrorist organisation Eoka.”
Prime Minister Ersan Saner said that the “fact that the anti-Turkish, far-right Elam increased the number of their MPs by 100 per cent” should be “evaluated well by everyone with regards to. . .
the kind of mentality we are faced with”.
“The results of the parliamentary elections held in South Cyprus on Sunday should be carefully studied by everyone concerned with the Cyprus issue,” he said.
“Another point that attracts attention is the fact that all the parties that
entered the election agree on . . . the complete withdrawal of Turkish troops from Cyprus, the abolition of Turkey’s right to unilaterally intervene in Cyprus when necessary, the expulsion of some TRNC citizens from Cyprus, granting the right to return to North Cyprus to all Greek Cypriots who request it in the event of an agreement, and the handover of a significant amount of TRNC territory to the Greek Cypriots.”
Mr Saner added that the results “confirmed” that President Tatar and the government are “correct” in saying that there can “no longer be a federal solution in Cyprus” due to the “attitude of the Greek Cypriots”.
“Therefore, we will continue to shout to the world that the time has come for the Turkish Cypriot people to take their place in the international community with their sovereignty, rights and law,” he continued.
“We hope that the UN Security Council and the EU will understand this reality as soon as possible.”
A total of 557,836 people – including 712 Turkish Cypriots – were eligible to vote in the South Cyprus poll. Turnout was 65.27 per cent. Twenty-four seats in the House of Representatives reserved for Turkish Cypriots remain vacant due to the lack of a solution on the island.