Turkish Cypriot press ignores Euro polls

THE Euro Elections may have been big news on the Greek Cypriot side, but it created barely a whisper of reaction in the north, with many of yesterday’s Turkish Cypriot dailies failing to give the polls even a passing mention.

Halkin Sesi carried only an editorial piece bemoaning the fact that Turkish Cypriots were denied two seats on the European Parliament when Greek Cypriots rejected the Annan plan on April 24 and highlighted that if both communities had accepted the plan, Turkish Cypriots would have been granted two of the six Cypriot seats.

Yeni Duzen carried a Cyprus News Agency report and pictures on Turkish Cypriots voting in Nicosia. The paper – perhaps with a hint of irony – carried the report from the Greek Cypriot news agency, which expressed hope that the participation of the Turkish Cypriots might be the beginning of a new unity between the two communities.

Afrika, the only other paper to mention the poll, dedicated a one-inch strip of its front page to the event.

While the paper was the only Turkish Cypriot daily to mention that DISY had scored more votes than AKEL, it highlighted the fact that only one Turkish Cypriot, Mehmet Hasguler, stood as a candidate, reaping just 681 votes.

The paper also cast light on the fact that only 97 Turkish Cypriots cast their votes, despite 503 having registered.

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.