Opposition groups unite to challenge Denktash

TURKISH Cypriots established a new force yesterday, the Peace and Democracy Movement under the leadership of Mustafa Akinci, to challenge Rauf Denktash’s obstinacy on the Cyprus problem and turn the upcoming ‘parliamentary’ elections into “the referendum which has been denied to them”.
Three opposition parties and 16 non-governmental organisations (NGOs) joined forces in the occupied north in an effort to win the majority of votes in the December elections and wrestle power from Denktash. However, the Turkish Republican Party, joint-main opposition party with the Communal Liberation Party (TKP), was notably absent from the coalition.
Akinci, former leader of the TKP, announced yesterday that the movement had been formed as a response to the will and wishes of the people who have shown that they expect to achieve a permanent peace in Cyprus based on the Annan plan and the accession of a united Cyprus to the European Union by May 1, 2004.
Akinci told the gathering: “The message of the people is clear. They told us through the huge street demonstrations in December 2002 and afterwards: ‘You united us in the streets, you don’t have the right to divide us at the polling stations’. That’s what the people want.”
He declared that Denktash could no longer represent or negotiate on behalf of the Turkish Cypriots. “He denounces the Annan plan every day, every hour. We cannot expect anything from him any more,” said Akinci. The new peace movement blames Denktash and the two majority right-wing parties, the Nationalist Unity Party and Democratic Party, and the “military-civilian bureaucracy in Ankara” for failing to reach a solution in Copenhagen last December and at The Hague in March.
“Now is the time to turn the December 2003 elections into a referendum which will lead us to a solution and EU membership,” he added.
The coalition comprises the Communal Liberation Party (TKP), which got the highest opposition votes in the 1998 elections, the United Cyprus Party (BKP) and the Cyprus Socialist Party. A notable absence from the pro-EU and pro-solution coalition was the Turkish Republican Party of Mehmet Ali Talat, which won the second highest opposition votes in the last elections.
Asked why Talat did not join the opposition movement, Alkinci replied, “They decided another course of action, to go another way, whereas other forces and NGOs decided to unite.”
“However, this action is not an end in itself. We are ready for further enlargement of the movement,” he said, implying that the door was still open for Talat to join forces with the coalition to ensure victory in the elections and “reach the objectives of peace and EU with a pro-solution negotiating team”.
TKP ‘deputy’ for Morphou, Tahsin Mertekci, said the coalition was getting a high response from the people, adding they were expecting a big national movement in the run-up to elections.
Meanwhile, Denktash, in an interview with a Turkish television station, expressed his sadness with the fact that US President George Bush had agreed with Greek Prime Minister Costas Simitis on the issue of the Cyprus problem. According to Turkish Cypriot press, Denktash reprimanded the EU in the interview, saying, “By accepting the Greek half of Cyprus into its arms, the EU is violating human rights, and the supremacy of law, democracy and justice”.
Denktash has come under sustained criticism from the international community in recent weeks, with the US joining the EU and the UN in singling him out as the main obstacle to a settlement.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.