Ankara, Turkey. Turkish Cypriot ‘prime minister’ Unal Ustel met Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday evening amid reports he may seek support to call early legislative elections in the north.
Meeting statement highlights bilateral ties
No mention of elections was made in Ustel’s statement after the meeting. His office highlighted “unwavering fraternal relations” between Turkey and the Turkish Cypriots, and referred to “joint steps to be taken within the framework of political stability, infrastructure investments, and development goals”.
Reports of early election as coalition faces pressure
It has been suggested Ustel may take the north to an early legislative election as soon as May, as problems appear to be mounting for his three-party ruling coalition.
The next ‘parliamentary’ election must be held before February next year. Ustel had until recently said he would wait until the latest possible moment to call an election, but legal cases involving his party, the UBP, and members of his inner circle may bring that date forward.
UBP internal disputes and court challenges
In recent weeks, UBP members have taken the party to court to protest down-ballot results of the party’s 2024 conference, with nine down-ballot results having been cancelled by the party.
Ustel, who became party leader in 2022, was challenged for the leadership at that conference by former ‘labour minister’ Hasan Tacoy. While Ustel won, Tacoy said at the time he had witnessed voter fraud.
It has been suggested that if down-ballot races continue to be taken to court, questions may be raised regarding the top of the ticket, and those questions may extend to potential criminal liability.
Trial involving Fatma Unal and allegations raised in court
Ustel’s close personal associate Fatma Unal is standing trial for alleged document forgery. She had been elected as the UBP’s Kyrenia women’s branch leader at the 2024 party conference before being removed from the post by the party last November.
She is alleged to have received a degree under false pretences from Morphou’s Cyprus Health and Social Sciences University (KSTU). It was also alleged in court that Ziya Ozturkler, selected by Ustel to be the north’s ‘parliament speaker’, had been accused of criminal wrongdoing in that trial.
No indictment has yet been issued for Ozturkler, who joined Ustel in Ankara on Thursday night. A key witness in Unal’s case said Ozturkler coerced university employees into awarding Unal the degree and then naturalised the people he had coerced as ‘TRNC’ citizens.
How do you think the ongoing legal cases could affect the timing of the next legislative election in the north?
