Talat Wins Turkish-Cypriot Presidential Election 

James C. Helicke, Associated Press

NICOSIA, 18 April 2005 — 

Turkish Cypriot Premier Mehmet Ali Talat won the election for leader of the breakaway northern state yesterday, as Turkish-Cypriots frustrated with decades of international isolation and a stagnant economy backed his pro-EU call. Talat had 56 percent of the vote for president of the self-declared Turkish-Cypriot state, while his main rival, Dervis Eroglu polled just 23 percent, according to official results with all of the ballot boxes counted. Talat’s tally was also well above the 50 percent margin needed to avoid a runoff election.

The voting was to replace Rauf Denktash, the hard-liner who for decades has opposed efforts to unite the war-divided island. Eroglu is largely regarded as favoring Denktash’s hard-line stance. Talat wants to start new reunification talks with Greek-Cypriots so that the Turkish-occupied north will not be excluded from benefits of the island’s membership in the European Union.

“Turkish-Cypriot people are voting with their free will. This is for peace, for a solution of the Cyprus problem and Cyprus’ entry into EU as a whole,” Talat said as he cast his ballot in Nicosia. A total of nine candidates competed for the president’s post.

“I voted for Talat because maybe he can help bring a solution” to the island’s partition, 53-year-old Mehmet Turker said after casting his vote yesterday in the divided Cypriot capital, Nicosia. “How long can this society continue to live like this?”

Tassos Papadopoulos, the president of the internationally recognized government in the Greek-Cypriot south, said: “I hope that the vote in the occupied region will result in a leadership that will show a sincere desire for the resumption of negotiations for the reunification of our country.” Papadopoulos spoke before flying to the Czech Republic as part of a tour of EU capitals to rally support for changes in a UN reunification plan.

A majority of Turkish-Cypriots had backed the plan in a referendum last year, but it was defeated when Greek-Cypriots voted it down. Talat had supported the plan, but both Denktash and Papadopoulos had opposed it. Turkish-Cypriots’ support of the plan was a major letdown for Denktash, the most prominent politician in the north of the island since the Turkish invasion of 1974 who has long demanded international recognition for his breakaway state.

Denktash yesterday warned the new leadership not to give up on Turkish-Cypriot sovereignty. “The person elected will take office and will have the duty of protecting the republic, its independence, and the sovereignty of its people. It is our duty to elect a person dedicated to these principles,” Denktash said.

Even though he is leaving active politics, Denktash, 81, still has significant support on the island and has said he plans to keep lobbying against the reunification plan. Talat, meanwhile, urged Papadopoulos to accept an invitation by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to restart talks “to solve the Cyprus problem,” the Anatolia news agency reported. The island has been split into Turkish- and Greek-Cypriot sectors since the Turkish invasion, sparked by a failed coup by supporters of union with Greece. Last year, the island joined the European Union, but EU benefits only apply to the south.