Denktash sets up camp to protest Turkish appointment
By Simon Bahceli
Published on February 15, 2011 +-Text size
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SON OF former hardline Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash, Serdar Denktash joined a wave of Turkish Cypriot resentment against Ankara yesterday by setting up camp outside the Turkish ‘embassy’ in north Nicosia.
Denktash says his protest was sparked by Ankara’s sudden appointment last Thursday of Halil Ibrahim Akca as ‘ambassador’ - a man he described as “not wanted by the public”.
Ankara shocked the breakaway state by appointing Akca, one of the main architects of an austerity package that has caused unprecedented tension between Ankara and the Turkish Cypriot community.
Akca’s appointment followed rows over an anti-austerity protest in the north on January 28 that attracted over 10,000 participants in addition to the ire of Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan who berated the community for being “ungrateful” of Turkish aid.
Leader of the opposition Democrat party in the north, Denktash said yesterday he and his supporters had so far collected 400 signatures from Turkish Cypriots who believed Ankara was playing too large a role in the north’s internal affairs.
Although Denktash intends to remain in his tent “all day and till around eight or nine at night,” he said last night would be spent indoors because he and his supporters had brought “the wrong kind of tent” to the protest.
“It was a tent designed for the summer. We were going to freeze,” he said.
However, Denktash pledged to remain camped outside the Turkish ‘embassy’ until the Turkish Cypriot leadership rejected Akca’s appointment.
Such a protest is unprecedented for Denktash, who, like his father, always supported greater integration with “the Turkish motherland”. However, it is indicative of just how widespread the Turkish Cypriot feeling of bitterness towards Ankara has become.
Denktash said he was calling on the Turkish Cypriot leader Dervish Eroglu to reject Ankara’s appointment of Akca, because Akca had earlier declared Turkish Cypriots “should be punished” for overspending at Ankara’s expense.
“The unions are against him; the people on the streets are against him; we are against him,” Denktash said.
A politician unpopular with the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) in Ankara, Denktash said his protest also aimed to express unhappiness with the Turkish government’s policy on Cyprus, and ongoing negotiations with Greek Cypriots.
“Why does [Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip] Erdogan insist we sit at the negotiating table [with Greek Cypriots] and not be intransigent? It is obvious we are not going to find a solution,” he insisted, adding that Turkish Cypriots should turn their attention to creating their own state, independent of both Turkey and Greek Cypriots.
“We are saying that we can rule ourselves. This is our house. Okay, it’s not a clean house, but we can clean it up,” he said.
In an attempt to calm the unusually intense wave of resentment towards Turkey, Eroglu said he was working “with unions, political parties and the people”. He accused those who were not calming matters of “helping Greek Cypriots”.
He also warned those planning to attend a mass rally on March 2 to “learn the lessons of January 28”.
Asked whether he intended to accept or reject Akca’s appointment as ‘ambassador’ Eroglu said, “There has been a lot of reaction; I don’t think I need to comment further”.
http://www.cyprus-mail.com/cyprus/denktash-sets-camp-protest-turkish-appointment/20110215
where do you get these morons?...
