A TURKISH Cypriot politician kicked up a storm during the swearing-in ceremony in the breakaway regime’s ‘parliament’ when she deviated from the ‘official’ script and among others pledged allegiance to a ‘federal Cyprus’.
While taking the oath of office with other lawmakers, MP Doğuş Derya, of the opposition Republican Turkish Party-United Forces, read a statement that was different from the official text.
As reported by Turkish Cypriot media, in her made-up oath Derya swore dedication “to the principles of the rule of law and human rights…and not to forego the vision of the establishment of a federal Cyprus.”
She also pledged to fight against “victimization” of any person on the grounds of language, religion, ethnicity, class, gender and sexual orientation.
But the ‘speaker’ did not allow Derya to finish reading her statement, and the session went into recess.
After a pause of five minutes, the assembly was reconvened and the new members of ‘parliament’ continued to take the oath.
The speaker ruled that Derya’s first oath was invalid and requested that she retake the oath. Derya went up to the rostrum and read the official oath, which reads: “I do swear upon my honour and dignity that I shall preserve the existence, rights and sovereignly (sic) exercised powers of the State within the United Cyprus Republic; that I shall be bound by the principle of the supremacy of law and by the principles of a democratic secular state, social justice and the principles of Atatürk; that I shall work for the welfare and happiness of my people; that I shall not depart from the ideal that every citizen must benefit from human rights and that I shall remain loyal to the Constitution.”
The TRNC’s ‘constitution’ defines the ‘Turkish Cypriot State’ as “one of the two Constituent States of the United Cyprus Republic” and “based on the political equality, bi-zonality and equal status of the two Constituent States, representing the distinct identity of Turkish Cypriots and their equal political status in a bizonal partnership. It is a secular state based on the principles of human rights, democracy, representative republican government, social justice and the supremacy of law.”
Whereas Derya’s move prompted a harsh reaction from the parliament ‘speaker’ and other deputies, it also drew applause from some MPs and members of the public.
A known feminist activist, Derya later said the official oath had a male-dominated tone that does not reflect pluralism.
She told reporters that while she does not reject the official oath, she had wanted to share her ‘conscience’ with the public.
Derya’s centre-left Republican Turkish Party-United Forces (CTP-BG), the leading opposition party for most of the past four years, won snap elections in the Turkish Cypriot community late last month, The CTP had been in opposition until mid-June, when the National Unity Party’s four-year rule was ended by an internal split. The CTP then formed a caretaker administration under Sibel Siber, the first female head of ‘government’ in the north.
