ENJOYING THE FUN We may inhabit a piece of land that constitutes just under half of a small island which boasts a relatively small population which we are told is subject to inhuman embargoes but that does not mean that we live out our days in boredom. No sir. There is never a dull day and you can rest assured that as our presidential elections, which are due to be held in May, looms ever closer we are going to have lots and lots of fun. As soon as we were back at work on Wednesday following our much deserved Bayram holidays we had the first telltale development that things are beginning to hot up. A very polite statement released by the President’s office informed us that Kudret Özersay, the Turkish Cypriot interlocutor at the Cyprus talks had been relieved of his duty. This, of course, came in the wake of the long expected announcement by Mr Özersay that he would be standing as a candidate at the presidential elections. That meant that with the exception of President Derviş Eroğlu, anyone with the intention and a chance of becoming our next president have declared their intentions to run. Mr Eroğlu told us he was very busy and therefore would not be disclosing whether he would or would not seek a re-election until November at the very earliest. Republican Turkish Party (CTP) the biggest party of the realm according to the results of the last general election that we had, has proven me wrong and decided against fielding our former President (and their former leader) as their candidate. Instead they will be trying their luck with our Parliamentary Speaker Sibel Siber. Poor Mr Talat had been campaigning relentlessly for the past four years for another chance at the ballot box but his party obviously had different ideas and named Mrs Siber as their candidate. Does she have any chance? Honestly I do not know. She is a young woman who is a newcomer to our politics which means that she has not been around for as long as I can remember. She was like a breath of fresh air when she was named as our interim PM after the nightmare that was the İrsen Küçük government. But she seems to have squandered her chances once she became the Speaker. Why? For two reasons, I believe. One is that we, the Turkish Cypriots, usually resent success. Once you become a successful figure in this part of the world, inevitably you become a target for ridicule and they tear you apart at the rumour mill. That she failed to portray a fresh image and seemed to be an incarnation of the type of politicians that we are accustomed to, and love to hate, did not help. All she seemed to be doing since becoming a speaker was cutting ribbons at village festivals and demanding business class travel in her foreign travels. That unfortunate photograph of her welcoming Mr Erdoğan at Ercan airport which went viral in the social media did her enormous damage. If you have not seen this photograph than allow me to explain as mercifully as I possibly can: It was a graphic depiction of sycophancy. We shall have to wait and see whether her party will manage to re-brand her and sell her to us as our next big hope. But it will be a hard sell. The other strong contender that we have is Mustafa Akıncı. He is a 70 plus year old politician who despite a lifetime spent in politics is untarnished and is still a revered person. He is mostly remembered as being the long time mayor of Lefkoşa after 1974 (three terms) and having courage to engage with the Greek Cypriots at a time when this was regarded as being tantamount to treason by many. He is seen as the “hope” by many in the left these days and the fact that he had repeatedly tried his luck to become our leader and (if my memory does not fault me) he never managed to poll more than 14 per cent of the total vote seems to have been forgotten. Nor do we seem to remember that when he had become the leader of the Communal Liberation Party (TKP) that party was the main opposition party and it had ceased to exist by the time he retired. Will he, this time, be able to garner the support of the pro-solution Turkish Cypriots ? Honestly I have no idea. There is of course our incumbent President Derviş Eroğlu, that consummate Oriental politician, the master of networking and Byzantine intrigues who has served us as an PM for 20 odd years and by May will have served as our leader for five. Everyone is convinced that unless something totally unexpected transpires he will be seeking re-election and enjoy the support of both of our right wing parties. Will he be able to romp to victory again or has he passed his sell-by date? I do not know but I am certain of one thing: Do not write him off yet. It will be a harder struggle for him this time round but he is still one of the strongest, if not the strongest contender. There is also the possibility that our former PM İrsen Küçük may throw his hat in to the ring as well and declare his candidacy. Mr Küçük sees Mr Eroğlu as the reason for his fall from grace and is reportedly keen on revenge. A very reliable source recently told me that at a restaurant at the Troodos mountains, where they were served mouflon, Mr Küçük had declared his intention to run. Not because he believes that he has any chance but to destroy the chances of Mr Eroğlu winning an outright victory at the first round of the elections as he did last time. If he manages to snatch just a couple of per cent of the votes from Mr Eroğlu than it is a certainty that this time there will be a second round of elections. A not very appealing prospect for Mr Eroğlu because this could result in all his opponents joining forces against him. What about Kudret Özersay? I have been asking this question to all the political pundits that I happen to know and they are all of the opinion that he has not got a chance. They agree that his untarnished, hard working, intellectual man of this world image will certainly work in his favour but say that without the support of a major political party that will not be enough. I beg to differ and point out to our last referendum. This was a referendum about proposed changes to the constitution and which enjoyed the support of all of our political parties at the Parliament. The result was a resounding rejection. 70 per cent of the people voted against it not because they had any idea what these proposed changes were about but because they wanted to slap our politicians hard in the face. The same reaction could well happen again. I for one certainly hope so. In the meantime I am just sitting back and enjoying the fun.
Posted on: Thu, 09 Oct 2014 09:50:23 +0000
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