TURKISH Cypriot Peace and Democracy (BDH) leader Mustafa Akinci expressed pessimism yesterday that a new ‘government’ could be formed in the north that did not include the Democratic Party (DP) led by Serdar Denktash.
“It seems that as far as mathematics is concerned there is that possibility… but because of the stance of [‘prime minister’ Mehmet Ali] Talat, such a thing is very unlikely,” Akinci said on the sidelines of a bi-communal meeting at the Ledra Palace Hotel in the UN-controlled buffer zone yesterday.
Akinci said Talat’s reluctance to form a government composed exclusively of parties and politicians that backed the Annan plan in last April’s referendum stemmed from the fact that such a government would have to include two independents who recently defected from Denktash’s DP.
“He says that because the grouping of the four is not very convincing, he is unwilling to form a government with them,” Akinci explained.
Akinci said he was committed to forming a pro-solution ‘government’ but that he was not in a position to dictate who would be included in such a coalition.
Asked whether he would be willing to be part of a coalition that included the DP, Akinci said: “As you know, politics is, in a way, about doing what is possible. So if we can do what we want to do, that will be the best. But if we cannot, then we will look at the options and judge accordingly, and mainly we will judge on the basis of what kind of vision the government is going to share.”
Political commentators maintain Akinci is currently negotiating not only a place in the ‘government’, but also the transfer of one or more key ‘ministries’ to his party.
“Certain ministries will be important in this kind of participation,” he admitted, adding that mainland Turkish obstructions to him taking office may have been relaxed in recent months.
“At the beginning I came out very openly in criticising the government in Turkey because I had reasons to criticise them. But since early January, when I had the opportunity to communicate my ideas to [Prime Minister Tayyip] Erdogan and [Foreign Minister Abdullah] Gul, and then at the end of January when Erdogan met the [UN] Secretary-general and accepted almost all the conditions of the Secretary-general, we found that they had reached the same position as the BDH.
“In the New York process, and then later in Burgenstock, I did not have any criticism towards them at all. The policies are now almost the same,” he added.
Akinci said his current rapport with the Turkish government depended entirely on whether “a solution in Cyprus continues to be the vision of the Turkish government as well”.
Akinci added his belief that it was unlikely Turkey would deviate from its current policy. “Turkey wants to become a member of the EU, so they cannot forget about finding a solution to the Cyprus problem.”
He added that his party and the current Turkish government were working “in parallel” in that both parties wished to see further “democratisation” in their countries.
“This should coincide, so I don’t see why there should be conflicts among us from now on.”
But he added that one should beware of seeing “Turkey as one Turkey”.
“You need to differentiate. Turkey is not only one Turkey. There are other powers in Turkey who would not like to see Akinci in the government.”
