Organisations in bid to support Turkish Cypriot Euro candidates

THE Workers Democracy movement and a number of pro-rapprochement organisations from both sides of the Green Line were to hold a conference in the occupied north last night, aimed at giving support to Turkish Cypriot candidates in next month’s European Parliamentary elections.

Under the Annan plan, Turkish Cypriots would have been entitled to two out of the six seats allocated to Cyprus. However, the Greek Cypriot community’s rejection of the plan last month meant no arrangements were made to allocate the two seats, effectively leaving the Turkish Cypriots without representation in the European Parliament.

Conference organiser Phedon Vassiliades told the Cyprus Mail the event represented “a good opportunity to try to prevent the climate of suspicion and hostility that came as a result of disappointment” following the failed referenda on the Annan plan.

Vassiliades said it was a way of hitting back at the government and President Tassos Papadopoulos, who he believes should have secured the two Turkish Cypriot seats as a gesture of good will to the community.

So far, two Turkish Cypriots have expressed the wish to stand as candidates in the June 13 election, although only one of them Hasan Haskuler has been officially registered. The other candidate, newspaper editor Sener Levent is yet to register.

The election has highlighted another problem for Turkish Cypriots in that only 300 of those living in the north have registered to vote on June 13, meaning that unless great numbers of Greek Cypriots vote for either or both of the Turkish Cypriot candidates, they will stand no chance of election to the European Parliament, leaving Greek Cypriots to take all six seats.

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.