Turkish Cypriot ‘minister’ resigns amid UBP primary election chaos

Turkish Cypriot ‘health minister’ Hakan Dincyurek resigned his post in the early hours of Sunday morning as the community’s largest political party, the UBP’s primary election ahead of December’s legislative elections descended into ignominy amid a flurry of objections to the figures presented after votes were counted. Over 8,000 UBP members had descended on Nicosia’s Ataturk sports hall on Saturday to choose the 41 party members who will join the nine candidates chosen by party leader and ‘prime minister’ Unal Ustel on the party’s list when the Turkish Cypriots head to the polls for legislative elections on December 6. However, when the provisional results of the primary election flashed up on a big screen inside the hall late on Saturday night, a few electoral upsets appeared to have occurred among the party’s big names. ‘Prime minister’ Unal Ustel and his wife Zerrin Ustel looking at the provisional results [Photo: Ahbap] Emrah Yesilirmak, for example, a sitting member of the legislature from the Trikomo district, was in fifth place in the district according to the provisional results. While five names are included on each party’s list in Trikomo, the UBP’s internal regulations dictate that at least 22 of the party’s 50 candidates be women, meaning that Yesilirmak could be substituted out so as to fulfil that quota. Should Yesilirmak fail to win re-election, he will almost certainly be arrested, after the Turkish Cypriot chief public prosecutor’s office had filed a request to lift his immunity earlier this year over his alleged involvement in the “fake diploma scandal”, in which he allegedly received a counterfeit university degree. ‘Parliament speaker’ Ozturkler looked at risk of losing seat In the Morphou district, an even bigger upset appeared to be on the cards, with ‘parliament speaker’ Ziya Ozturkler appearing in third place according to the provisional results, with three candidates to be selected. He would thus risk not even being able to defend his seat in December. Ozturkler, too, has been named in court papers in relation to the “fake diploma scandal”, with the police in March having launched an investigation into allegations that he coerced university officials to award degree certificates to his political allies under false pretences. As such, he, too, could face arrest if he fails to win re-election. Ozturkler demanding a recount on Sunday morning [Video: Kibris Postasi] He was seen on the floor of the Ataturk sports hall during the early hours of Sunday morning furiously gesticulating at the stage upon which the UBP’s primary election council was sat, demanding that the votes be counted again, and that the Turkish Cypriot supreme election council step in to observe the recount. Elsewhere in the sports hall, Firtina Karanfil, a sitting member of the legislature from Lefka, was also demanding a recount after he appeared in third place according to the provisional results, with only two candidates from each party allowed to stand in Lefka. Karanfil and Ozturkler were two of 17 candidates – almost a quarter of the field – to file official objections to the results, with the primary election council as such announcing that the more than 8,000 votes would all be recounted on Sunday. Dincyurek resigned shortly before 2am However, Dincyurek remained unconvinced by those promises, and announced shortly before 2am that he had decided to withdraw his candidacy and resign as ‘health minister’. The provisional results had placed him in fifth in the Kyrenia district, which would have definitely placed him on the party list, but low down, meaning that he would have faced an uphill battle to win re-election. Following Dinyurek’s resignation, Ustel is now likely to make his third ‘ministerial’ change in the space of a little over six weeks, with ‘transport minister’ Erhan Arikli having been dismissed and replaced by Faiz Sucuoglu last month following the sinking of a passenger ferry off the coast of Kyrenia, and Olgun Amcaoglu having been replaced as ‘energy minister’ by Hasan Tacoy at the same time. Atli, Sahali criticise UBP’s running of election, authorities Dincyurek’s departure was met with bemusement from the opposition, with Mine Atli, centre-left party the TDP’s lead candidate in Lefka, pointing out that the death of a newborn baby who was fed ethanol at a hospital run by the Turkish Cypriot authorities in 2024 occurred while Dincyurek was in post but did not bring about his resignation. “So many babies were poisoned, and one even died, under his watch, yet he felt no shame, nor did he resign, but he stepped aside simply because he was not satisfied with the number of votes he received,” she said early on Sunday morning. On the controversy surrounding the primary election itself, she said that “I find it surprising that anyone is surprised by what happened”. Police standing guard over the ballot boxes [Video: Kibris Postasi] Likewise, fellow centre-left party CTP representative Erkut Sahali, who is on the party’s list in Famagusta, described the controversy surrounding Saturday’s election as “the summary of the last seven years” since the UBP most recently came to power. “Yes, for the past seven years, the country has been governed by a mindset which saw no need to read the laws, a mindset which believed it could apply the law however it pleased,” he said. He added that “it was already clear that a party incapable of even holding its own primary election in accordance with its own bylaws and the laws of the land had nothing to offer, neither to its own members nor to the Turkish Cypriot people, other than harm and trouble”. Police officers stood guard over the ballot boxes inside the Ataturk sports hall overnight, with it expected that recounts will begin later on Sunday.