Turkish Cypriot left-leaning political parties the CTP and the TDP traded blows on Wednesday night after the latter’s leader Zeki Celer alleged that CTP ‘MPs’ may have voted for the ruling coalition’s choice for ‘parliament speaker’ Ziya Ozturkler on Monday.
Ozturkler was elected as ‘parliament speaker’ on Monday after failing to win the support of his ‘parliamentary’ colleagues on five previous occasions during a 42-day political crisis which also saw two other candidates fail to be elected in 10 other rounds of voting.
Celer was unconvinced that Ozturkler had got over the line with the votes of only ‘MPs’ belonging to the ruling coalition, given his five failed attempts to do so before Monday, and said on political talk television show Er Meydani that despite being in the opposition, CTP ‘MPs’ voted for him.
This statement prompted a gasp from the show’s presenter Mustafa Alkan, who asked for a clarification, which Celer then gave.
“There are 21 [opposition] MPs. Of those 21, at least some of them went and voted for Ozturkler so we would not have an early general election,” he said.
CTP secretary-general Asim Akansoy was the first to react, describing Celer’s statements as “slander” and “extremely ugly”.
“It is both sad and irresponsible to pursue political gains through slander and speculation, rather than finding solution to the country’s real and pressing problems through cooperation and solidarity,” he added.
Fellow CTP ‘MP’ and son of former Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat, Ongun Talat, also expressed his surprise and anger at Celer’s statements, saying Celer has “no respect for the fight we put up” in stopping two candidates for ‘speaker’ from falsely claiming they had been elected.
“Where do you think you will end up by throwing mud like this without any basis? I am really curious. Of course, we want you to be successful, but if you continue to act like this, it will not be possible,” he added.
He also pointed to a social media post made by Celer on October 8, the day after the first five rounds of voting, in which he had said the process of electing a ‘speaker’ would be “completed in one or two rounds, and without votes from [the ruling coalition’s largest party] the UBP”.
CTP leader Tufan Erhurman was the last to intervene on the matter, saying that 48 ‘MPs’ were present on Monday for the vote, of whom 19 belonged to the opposition, as CTP ‘MP’ Armagan Candan and independent ‘MP’ Jale Refik Rogers were not present, and that thus, the number of votes against Ozturkler was more than the number of opposition ‘MPs’ present at the time.
“The allegation that I had ever suggested to any MP to vote for Ozturkler, the claim that any MP voted in favour of him, is also a huge lie,” he added.
“I openly invite those who will continue to spread this lie to prove their claims. After we were forced to make these statements today, despite them being completely unnecessary and meaningless, those who will continue to spread such slander without any evidence, let alone any reasonable justification, are slanderers in our eyes.”
