NICOSIA, 19 April 2005 — Calling his resounding electoral victory “a silent revolution,” the newly elected Turkish Cypriot leader yesterday pledged to work to reunite this divided Mediterranean island and restart peace talks with Greek Cypriots.
Mehmet Ali Talat, 53, captured 56 percent of the vote in Sunday’s race for the presidency of the breakaway Turkish Cypriot state, replacing its 81-year-old founder, Rauf Denktash, a hard-liner who long opposed efforts to reunite the north with the internationally recognized Greek Cypriot south.
Talat’s campaign emphasized restarting peace efforts with Greek Cypriots, which have long stumbled over Denktash’s insistence on international recognition for his Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.
Denktash, who did not run in the election, visited Talat yesterday to congratulate him, but he also warned “there will be many difficulties ahead.”
“It’s my duty to continuously say what Greek Cypriots are like ... as one who has gone through this experience a lot. But the responsibility is his,” said Denktash, who has long blamed the island’s stalemate on Greek Cypriots. Talat said: “I think the message that the Turkish Cypriot people has given me is clear. It wants its rights to be protected ... It wants a just solution.” The change in leadership reflected the growing wish of many voters, especially young ones, for a settlement to the island’s partition and full participation in the European Union. Cyprus joined the bloc last year, but the island’s division has excluded Turkish Cypriots in the north from most benefits.
The European Union head office yesterday welcomed Talat’s victory, saying it “confirms the strong desire of the Turkish Cypriot community for reunification and full integration into the EU.”
“The (European) Commission expects that this result will create favorable conditions of a resumption of talks under the aegis of the United Nations in view of a comprehensive solution to the Cyprus issue,” it said in a statement. Talat’s main rival, Dervis Eroglu, who supported many of Denktash’s policies, received 23 percent of the vote.
Talat told a press conference Sunday he was ready to resume peace talks with Greek Cypriots. “For all of those who want peace ... the (presidential) palace is now yours,” Talat told some 2,000 screaming, flag-waving supporters late Sunday. “You have carried out a silent revolution.”
Talat’s call for change has been steadily rising in popularity in northern Cyprus.
“A new leader, a new era,” the north’s largest newspaper, Kibris, which has long been critical of Denktash, headlined yesterday. But challenges lie ahead of any settlement.
Although an overwhelming majority of Turkish Cypriots backed the plan in a referendum, Greek Cypriots voted it down. Many Greek Cypriots said it gave too many concessions to Turkey, which maintains thousands of troops on the island, and did not allow enough Greek Cypriot refugees to return to the north. “With all of our hearts, we want Cyprus to be as a whole in the European Union,” said Talat supporter Erdin Vehci. “Now the ball is in the Greek Cypriots’ court.”
Turkey hailed Talat’s victory as the beginning of “a new era” of hope for Cyprus, pledging him support in efforts to resolve the island’s decades-old division.
“Undoubtedly a new era begins there. We hope it will be an era that will provide a chance... for the establishment of permanent peace on the island,” the government spokesman, Justice Minister Cemil Cicek, said after a Cabinet meeting.
In a congratulatory message to Talat, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul stressed the need for a settlement to the conflict, a major stumbling block in Turkey’s efforts to join the European Union.
