Ersin Tatar is preparing for a re-election

Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar stated on Friday that he is “building up to” a possible run for reelection in the coming year.

After four years in the position, he remarked in an interview with Kibris Postasi TV that he had “now gained a great deal of experience.” With 52% of the vote, he defeated Mustafa Akinci, the previous incumbent, in the election’s second round and was elected in October 2020.

Tatar “I am both in good health and mind. Some consultations need to be held. You cannot embark on this road on your own, so I am already building up to it,”

The ruling coalition party UBP, which Tatar led until winning the election of Turkish Cypriot leader in 2020—a post that cannot be held by members of political parties—will probably back him if he decides to run again.

He also addressed the issue of Cyprus, noting that Maria Angela Holguin, the UN envoy, will soon be returning to the island. There was thus “no point in sitting down at the table again after so many attempts,” he claimed, because the Greek Cypriot side had “flipped the table” in earlier rounds of negotiations.

But he also said he would be open to talks if the north was given permission to conduct direct trade with the outside world and travel to places other than Turkey.

Tatar said, “This is for the survival of the TRNC,” noting that “people in many parts of the world, especially in this age of technology,” are “following the Cyprus problem.”

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In light of this, he declared that he will shortly visit the United Kingdom and that, on July 5, he would likely attend a meeting of the Organisation of Turkic States in the Azerbaijani town of Shusha.

In the meantime, Bertan Zaroglu, the spokesman for the ruling coalition party, declared that his party will run a candidate in the Turkish Cypriot leadership election of the next year.

He stated, “The general consensus within the YDP is that, just like in the last election, each party will nominate and support its own candidate in the first round, and in the second round, political parties with similar ideologies will come together and elect the new President.”
In 2020, the YDP put its leader Erhan Arikli on the ballot; however, in the subsequent round, the party backed Tatar.

After placing sixth in the 2020 election, Serdar Denktash, the late Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash’s son, has already informed the Cyprus Mail that he will run in the following year’s election.

Additionally, it is widely anticipated that Turkish Cypriot Nicosia mayor Mehmet Harmanci and leader of the opposition party CTP Tufan Erhurman will both run for election.

(Source: Cyprus Mail)