The Observer (2022-01-09)

The Observer

World 09.01.22 27

In his sun-filled office in north
Nicosia, Şener Elcil is plotting his next
protest. Anger, he says, is in the air in
Turkish-occupied northern Cyprus.
The economy is in freefall, thanks
to the self-declared republic’s fi nan-
cial and political dependence on
Turkey. Thousands have taken to the
streets, spurred by infl ation rates that
have left many struggling to make
ends meet; ahead of parliamentary
polls this month, calls for a boycott
are mounting, while a blacklist of
Turkish Cypriot dissidents, report-
edly drawn up at the behest of Ankara,
has spawned consternation and fear.
“Turkey is our biggest problem,”
says Elcil, who heads the Turkish
Cypriot teachers’ union and is a vocal
proponent of reunification of the
war-divided island under a federal
umbrella with the Greek-run south.
“It should keep its hands off Cyprus
and take its lira and go away.”
Elcil, 58, is among the statelet’s
most outspoken opponents of the
Turkish president, Recep Tayyip
Erdoğan , and his unorthodox eco-
nomic policies.
The recent gyrations of the Turkish
lira – adopted by the territory in 1976,
two years after the Turkish invasion –
have had a devastating effect on daily
life for a populace that remains under
international embargo and cut off
from the rest of the world. The use of
foreign currency for property trans-
actions and the purchase of imported
goods has made a bad situation worse

• even if the lira has regained some
  of its loss in value against the dollar.
  Amid rising desperation , along
  with demands for the entity to adopt
  a “stable ” currency, Elcil is far from
  alone.
  “People are tired of international
  isolation, and they’re aware that it will
  only get worse,” he says. “Five years
  ago, a teacher fi rst entering our sys-
  tem earned the equivalent of €1,100
  (£920) a month. Today, because of the
  lira, they’d take home €350 a month.”
  The protests come as hopes of
  reuniting Cyprus have rarely been as
  bleak. Last week, nearly 15 months
  after Ersin Ta tar , a nationalist hard-
  liner, won presidential elections in
  the north, the UN secretary general,
  António Guterres, issued his stark-
  est report yet, warning that “with-
  out decisive action” further efforts to
  reach a negotiated peace settlement
  appeared increasingly slim.
  Cyprus has been split between
  a Greek Cypriot south and Turkish

A barricaded

street at the

UN buffer zone

between Greek

Cypriot and

Turkish Cypriot

areas in Nicosia.

Alamy

Rising anger with Turkey drives calls for

reunifi cation in crisis-hit northern Cyprus

The self-styled state

goes to the polls

this month, amid

protests over spiralling

infl ation, isolation and

meddling from Ankara

about the consequences if they did

so. Turkish Cypriots expelled from

Turkey had learned of the ban only

upon arrival in the nation.

“Even if ours is an unrecognised

country we’ve had a longstanding

democratic tradition of freedom of

speech, of respecting each other’s val-

ues and ideas,” says Harmanc ı. “Since

the election of Ersin Ta tar, that has

changed.”

Ta tar, who was raised in the UK and

educated at Cambridge before return-

ing to Cyprus, has used his term in

office to advocate for a two-state

solution to the island’s division after

years of failed negotiations to reunite

it as a bi-zonal, bi-communal federa-

tion – a proposal fl atly rejected by the

EU. He has defended the travel ban,

saying: “ Every country has the right

not to allow entry foreign nationals

on the grounds of security when faced

with threats and insults.”

However, Turkish Cypriots thought

to be on the list are united in their

desire for reunifi cation and opposed

to any suggestion that the EU’s most

easterly member state should remain

partitioned.

In October the European

Federation of Journalists condemned

the arrest of Ali Kismir , who heads

the north’s press trade union, after

he was detained at Istanbul airport

and denied entry into Turkey.

“I was taken to a special deporta-

tion area where my photograph and

fi ngerprints were taken,” he recalls.

“It makes me very angry to think that

I was treated like a terrorist when all

I do is write the truth.”

Kismir, the fourth Turkish Cypriot

to be barred entry to Turkey, is a well-

known columnist who took issue

with Ankara’s electoral meddling to

ensure Tatar’s election.

In recent weeks, Turkish opposi-

tion MPs have also raised the plight of

Turkish Cypriots being banned from

Turkey, arguing that this runs counter

to the motherland’s professed desire

to protect the minority.

But, like almost every Turkish

Cypriot opposed to Ankara’s policies,

Elcil says time is running out for a

community already outnumbered by

settlers imported from the mainland.

About 2,000 Turkish Cypriots have

moved to the south, lured by jobs and

better living standards.

“There have to be more protests

that target Turkey, because Turkey is

the biggest obstacle to a solution of

the Cyprus problem and reunifi ca-

tion,” he says. “They call us traitors

and Turkish-speaking Greeks but

we’re not giving up. We’re here to stay

and we’re here to fi ght.”

Helena Smith

North Nicosia

LEFT

Kyrenia, the

tourism capital

of northern

Cyprus, where

economic woes

have stirred

dissent. Alamy

‘We have had a long

tradition of freedom

of speech. Since Ersin

Tatar was elected,

that has changed’

Mehmet Harmancı, mayor

of North Nicosia

ABOVE

Turkish Cypriot

leader Ersin

Tatar.

Ed Jones/AFP

Cypriot north since an Athens-backed

coup, aimed at union with Greece,

prompted Ankara to launch a military

operation to seize its northern third.

Although Turkish Cypriots voted in

favour of reunifi cation in a referen-

dum in 2004, the island entered the

EU as a divided state after its major-

ity Greek Cypriot population rejected

the prospect of power sharing.

The growing disgruntlement fol-

lows alarm over the deportation

from Turkey of prominent Turkish

Cypriots opposed to Ankara’s policies.

Until recently the self-styled state –

acknowledged solely by Ankara – was

regarded as a safe zone for opponents

of Erdoğan and his governing AKP

party, one in which Turkish Cypriots

and exiled mainland Turks indulged

freely in criticism of the president’s

authoritarian leadership.

But the appearance of a blacklist ,

published by Avrupa, a local newspa-

per, in October has heightened anxi-

ety over the lengths to which Turkey

is willing to go to silence dissent. The

paper identifi ed 42 politicians, writ-

ers, journalists, lawyers, trade union-

ists and artists as being on the list.

“It’s created fear and uncertainty,”

says Mehmet Harmanc ı , the mayor

of North Nicosia, drawing on a cig-

arette in a cafe near the divided

capital’s UN-patrolled buffer zone.

“Nobody knows exactly who is on it.

All we know is there is a list, a blacklist

of people seen as a security threat in

Turkey who are blocked from enter-

ing the country.”

People previously unafraid to voice

opinions were concerned, he said,