Turkish Cypriots Face Fractured Vote

[struggle4progress]

Turkish Cypriots will Sunday elect a government for their breakaway state, but the political deadlock gripping their community amid failures to reunite the island is unlikely to cease before presidential polls in April.

The self-proclaimed Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) was forced to call early elections after the ruling coalition lost its slim majority in May and subsequent efforts to stitch together a stable government failed. <snip>

Cyprus has been divided along ethnic lines since 1974 when Turkey occupied its northern third in response to an Athens-engineered coup aimed at uniting the island with Greece. Turkey, which still keeps some 30,000 troops in the north of the island, is the only state to recognize the TRNC, which was founded in 1983. <snip>

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,1564,1492636,00.html


<edit:> Turkey regards Cyprus issue national cause: state minister

ANKARA, Feb. 19 (Xinhuanet) -- Turkish State Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Abdullatif Sener said Saturday that Turkey considers the Cyprus issue as a national cause.

The elections in Cyprus will not affect Turkey's fundamental targets and efforts to protect interests of the Turkish Cypriot people, the semi-official Anatolia News Agency quoted Sener as saying.

"Turkey should be decisive and show solidarity in this sensitive period. Turkey has always backed Turkish Cypriots and supported them economically and politically," the minister said. <snip>

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-02/20/content_2595500.htm