Under the shadow of fear: presidential elections in the KKTC
Last week I spent four days in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (KKTC) and had the opportunity to talk with several local politicians, including President Mehmet Ali Talat, and observe both his and challenger Derviş Eroğlu’s election campaigns.
Mr. Talat and Mr. Eroğlu are two leading figures, one of whom will be the next president of the Turkish community in Cyprus. It appears that both leaders are organizing two-faced political campaigns. One is a regular political campaign, for which both leaders are visiting shop owners at their shops, shaking hands and asking citizens to support them. The second face is a much more serious campaign that is linked with Turkey and whether the government or the military is supporting one leader over other. The divided nature of Turkish politics is reflected in the election campaign on the island.
For instance, an activist in Talat’s campaign stresses that “deep Turkey,” implying the military, Kemalist and nationalist establishment, is supporting Eroğlu, but the “other Turkey” is on their side. When I asked Talat whether the deep state is involved in the election process and is supporting one side over the other, Talat said he would not comment on whether the deep state is involved in the election process, but he stated, “If it is involved, it is obvious that the deep state is not supporting my campaign.”
On the street, it is obvious that people are wary of invisible political pressure. Most people hesitate to broadcast which side they are supporting in the election. Voters even hesitate to comment on who might win the election. The attitude of hiding their political preference is more visible among Talat’s supporters. For instance, when I visited shop owners in Girne and asked them who would win, many Eroğlu supporters said that Eroğlu will win this time. Most of the voters who came to the island from Turkey after the 1974 events support Eroğlu because they think Mr. Talat sold them out during the negotiations. If Talat is elected, Turks from Turkey fear that they may be deported from the island.
For Talat supporters, it takes at least five to 10-minute chitchats for them to reveal that they are supporting Talat. Out of 15 shop owners who revealed that they are supporting Talat, only one shop owner openly stated that he supports Talat and did not initially demur on the subject of his voting preference.
When I asked what the fear was for, Talat stated that the Eroğlu government would levy higher taxes on shop owners who support Talat. One Talat supporter stated that his vehicles have been stopped by the police and fined just because he does not support Eroğlu. Yet the density of fear on the island cannot be explained by the Eroğlu government’s threat to fine people. One Talat activist points out that unknown people had thrown two stun grenades at Talat campaign offices. Additionally, Talat posters were defaced by unknown peoples. Moreover, the Eroğlu government set up CCTV cameras to monitor campaign offices. Talat supporters believe that they put the cameras to monitor who is coming to Talat’s campaign offices. Yet Eroğlu strongly denies such claims and argues that the cameras are to maintain the security of campaign offices.
Perhaps the following story that I encountered can explain the situation better than anything. When I was at a sauna with two voters who were originally from Cyprus, one of them openly stated that Eroğlu would win the election and asked the other gentlemen to confirm it. The other man said: “I am not interested in politics. Sorry, I missed the conversation.” Yet when the Eroğlu supporter left the room, he turned to me, and said: “Do not listen to those who say Eroğlu will win the election. Eroğlu will not win the election, and he should not win it because he would not lead the peace negotiations.” When I asked him why he did not speak when the other man was in the room, he said: “We have known each other for a long time. I did not want to talk about political differences that would harm my relations with him and other things...”
http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/yazarDetay.do?haberno=207218
hmmmm, it looks like the deep state and the settelrs having the final say in the future of talks...
good luck in assimilatinmg the 1 million turks effendi...
