Turkish Cypriot coalition largely silent over failed Turkish bill to change northern Cyprus’ name

The Turkish Cypriot ruling coalition was largely silent on Friday over a bill which was put forward to and eventually rejected by the Turkish parliament late on Thursday night, demanding that the north be called the “Turkish Republic of Cyprus”. The bill had been put forward by the New Path party, which was jointly founded former Turkish prime minister Ahmet Davutoglu and his former deputy prime minister Ali Babacan, who both served under Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan but subsequently split off from the ruling AK Party and now sit in opposition. New Path MP Mustafa Kaya, the bill’s sponsor, told Thursday night’s plenary session that “if we have a say on the entire island, and if the Turkish Cypriot people have a right to all the hydrocarbon deposits, then from now on, there is no ‘north’ or ‘south’ of the island”. “We must continue on this path under the name of the Turkish Republic of Cyprus,” he said, before criticising the Greek Cypriot side for “playing games by making distinctions between the Turks who lived on the island before and after 1974”. Mustafa Kaya sponsored the bill Iyi Party deputy leader Ayyuce Turkes Tas, whose father, former Turkish deputy prime minister Alparslan Turkes, was himself a Cypriot, also addressed the parliament, saying that “we find that two-state solution and sovereign equality policy put forward by the government to be correct, and we support it”. “Changing this policy due to external pressure would be absolutely unacceptable. The Cyprus policy should be an immutable policy of the state at large, not of individual governments. Turkey’s red lines are clear – there will be no return to federation. There will be no compromise on the sovereignty of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus,” she said. She added that “Turkey’s effective and actual guarantee is absolutely non-negotiable, and the presence of Turkish soldiers on the island cannot be a subject of negotiation”. “The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus exists, will continue to exist, and will certainly be recognised. This is not just the cause of the Turkish Cypriots, but also the indispensable national cause of the Republic of Turkey and the Blue Homeland,” she said. The “Blue Homeland” doctrine, known as the “Mavi Vatan” in Turkish, outlines Turkey’s maritime claims in the Aegean, Black, and Mediterranean seas. Ayyuce Turkes Tas’ father, former Turkish prime minister Alparslan Turkes, was himself a Cypriot Pro-Kurdish Dem Party deputy leader Sezai Temelli said that “to defend the rights of the Turkish Cypriots on the island, it is essential to first and foremost show respect for their free will”. “Especially today, when we look at the Cypriot economy, when we look at the difficulties the Cypriot economy is facing, in fact, in our relations with Cyprus, we are both exporting and importing poverty. Therefore, we are as far as possible from the conditions under which the Cypriot economy can utilise its potential,” he said. Next to speak was Utku Cakirozer, who was at the time a member of the CHP, but on Friday was one of 91 CHP MPs who defected from the party to join the New Party, which was established by Ozgur Ozel after he was removed from his position as leader of the CHP by a court decision in May. Instead of speaking on the bill itself, he chose to criticise the European Parliament for adopting a report into the sexual violence suffered by Cypriot women during Turkey’s invasion of the island in 1974. “Those who wrote this report should first recognise the sovereignty, rights, laws, independence, and equal status of the Turkish Cypriots, instead of insulting our country and our heroic army,” he said. Regarding the modern state of Cyprus, he said that “we stand by the just fight of the Turkish Cypriot people to the very end”, and added that “in the people’s government which we will establish, we will ensure stronger international representation and absolutely defend its rights until the very end”. Utku Cakirozer was one of 91 CHP MPs who defected from the party to join Ozgur Ozel’s New Party on Friday Ruling AK Party MP Orhan Erdem stressed that in spite of the fact that the north remains unrecognised, Turkey, in his view, has kept the Turkish Cypriots safe. “Of course, it should be recognised, but today, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus is one of the safest islands in the world. Look at Palestine, Gaza, which is recognised by 155 countries, and our hearts ache,” he said. He added that “in a world order where might is right, not the just, we are striving for the latter”. “The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus is a country under the guarantee of Turkey, where no one can even touch it in terms of security. At this point, this is very important, and this goes beyond recognition,” he said. However, the Iyi Party’s Turhan Comez argued that Turkey has in recent years “lost ground” on the Cyprus problem. “Take ownership of the Cyprus issue, not with the palaces you have built there or the infrastructure investments you have made, but with your diplomatic power. Let us all take ownership of it together,” he said, with the “palaces” remark a reference to the new official residence of the Turkish Cypriot leader opened by Erdogan last year. Erdem responded to Comez’s comment, asking, “Mr Comez, should North Cyprus continue having its president live in a building erected by a British government, and should its parliament be in a tobacco factory?”, with the latter also referring to the new legislature built, replacing the former Turkish Cypriot legislature building, housed in the old Dianellos cigarette factory. “Can there be a state without institutions? Why are you bothered to mention these things?” Erdem added. Orhan Erdem The bill was voted down by MPs from the AK Party and the MHP, which caucuses with it in the parliament, with the topic provoking a muted reaction in Cyprus. Of the ruling coalition’s cabinet, only ‘transport minister’ Erhan Arikli passed public comment on the matter, though he did go as far as to say that he had “followed with astonishment and horror” the bill’s submission. “The YDP has repeatedly stated that the name of the TRNC should be changed to the Turkish Republic of Cyprus or to the Turkish Cypriot State, the name given to us by the United Nations in the Annan plan,” he said, with the latter referring to the plan for a Turkish Cypriot constituent state within the foreseen bizonal, bicommunal federal Cyprus. However, he said, “the decision on this matter rests with the Turkish Cypriot people”. “Submitting such a motion to the Turkish parliament is meddling and a way of diluting the issue. It is also an action which would put Turkey and the TRNC in a difficult position in international platforms. We believe that [Mustafa Kaya] made this move solely to gain attention, and we express our regret,” he said. Erhan Arikli said he followed the bill’s submission with “astonishment and horror” The move comes just a week and a half after Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the man installed as CHP leader by the court in Ozgur Ozel’s stead, had also suggested that the north be called the “Turkish Republic of Cyprus” during a televised interview. “The late [Turkish prime minister Bulent] Ecevit went and took Cyprus, did he not? The Turkish Republic of Cyprus was established. I do not call it northern Cyprus. Its name is the Turkish Republic of Cyprus. Its official name should be the Turkish Republic of Cyprus,” he said. He added that “with the Turkish Republic of Cyprus, our rights in the eastern Mediterranean have been secured”, and that “this is what I mean by republican autonomy”. Previously, Former Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar, too, said he wished the north could change its name, “because after all, when the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus was declared by our founding president, it was continuing talks for a federal solution at that time, and it was Turkey’s policy, of course”. However, there is no legal mechanism for such a change to take place, and it is expressly prohibited by the ‘TRNC’s’ constitution. As such, any name change for the north would require that the ‘TRNC’ be dissolved. Former Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar