 |
| Author |
Message |
moonskin
Mukhtar/is
Joined: 29 Aug 2005
Posts: 515
Location: Freiburg, Germany
|
|
| Back to top |
|
CY
Mukhtar/is
Joined: 09 Oct 2005
Posts: 601
Location: London/Warwick
|
|
are the DP and CTP different parties?
What's their political background? |
|
| Back to top |
|
cannedmoose
Warnings : 4
Moderator
Joined: 12 Aug 2005
Posts: 5357
Location: National Forest, England
|
|
| Thanks for this moony, very useful information. |
|
| Back to top |
|
antonis
Villager
Joined: 20 Aug 2005
Posts: 70
|
|
Isn't the municipal one a big disaster for CTP? What are the results compared to the previous voting? Erk is not reelected...
Moonskin, do you think with 25 seats CTP will break the coalition with DP? |
|
| Back to top |
|
erolz
Site Admin
Joined: 11 Aug 2005
Posts: 4195
Location: Kyrenia / Girne
|
|
| antonis wrote: |
| Isn't the municipal one a big disaster for CTP? What are the results compared to the previous voting? Erk is not reelected... |
I have not seen the results and my ability to know what is going on is limited by not speaking Turkish, but my understanding is that will be some loss for CTP, but not at the level of a disater. As I undestand it in the municipal areas where they are like to lose control (Kyrenia for example) the issue are actuly being dominated by local and not national politics. However I might be wrong.
| antonis wrote: |
Moonskin, do you think with 25 seats CTP will break the coalition with DP? |
No |
|
| Back to top |
|
Alexandros Lordos
Site Admin
Joined: 19 Aug 2005
Posts: 324
Location: Cyprus/Greece
|
|
It is interesting to note that CTP doesn't actually NEED Serdar any more. I also do not expect they will break the coalition, but at least CTP will be more resistant to being blackmailed by DP from now on. DP can no longer credibly threaten to walk out of the adminstration ..
On the whole however, it is obvious that DP and UBP are getting stronger. From what I know, this is not unrelated to the rising anti-Greek Cypriot sentiment in the north, and CTP is in a precarious position, in the long term, if no visible progress in made on its "re-unification policy". |
|
| Back to top |
|
Khan
Deputy
Joined: 13 Nov 2005
Posts: 1092
Location: London
|
|
| Is there rising anti-Greek Cypriot sentiment in the North? |
|
| Back to top |
|
moonskin
Mukhtar/is
Joined: 29 Aug 2005
Posts: 515
Location: Freiburg, Germany
|
|
| CY wrote: |
are the DP and CTP different parties?
What's their political background? |
Yes, they are different parites. DP is the party of the "Denktash Junior". It is a fragment that separated from the relatively more nationalist right-wing UBP about 13 (?) years ago. Even though father Denktas is not around actively, DP is very much seen as under his control. I do not know any serious Turkish Cypriot friends who have a positive (or even natural) opinion about the talents of the leader of this party. He is there because of his surname. Their relations with Turkey is very much identical to the relations of father Denktas with Turkey: Very close ties with military and nationalists. For this reason, and given the AKP vs. Military battle that has been going on in Turkey and also the strong collaboration between AKP and CTP, the current CTP-DP coalition can also be seen as a reflection of the AKP-Military balance in Cyprus.
| antonis wrote: |
| Isn't the municipal one a big disaster for CTP? What are the results compared to the previous voting? Erk is not reelected... |
You know Antonis, these elections might be a little confusing. The specific case with Lefkosa has to do less with party politics and more to do with the talents of the candidates. Kutlay Erk failed to bring solutions to big problems of Lefkosa. One of them being the unimaginable state of the Dikmen (Digomo) garbage collection site. I do not want to bother you with the details (but if people are interested, I can give detailed information on the matter) but the garbage collection at this site has been burning (especially in summer season) and producing a huge cloud of smoke which then surrounds Lefkosa. There are other problems, like the sewage waste that has been dumped in the same area having reached back into Lefkosa. The smell is unbearable for the people living close to the affected districts according to the reports.
Erk promised that he will solve the problem. He did not or could not. Digomo garbage site has been burning as North was going to elections (or at least in the days approaching to the elections).
There are other issues related to Erk himself. Some of which are news distributed in the Cypriot way "from ear to ear" and not from the press. Like the big restaurant he opened recently in central Lefkosa and the means he used to acquire the building from an old lady. These have been very big mistakes on his side I would say.
Erk failed to provide sufficient services to Lefkosa. At least he failed to solve big problems which he promised to do so.
| antonis wrote: |
| Moonskin, do you think with 25 seats CTP will break the coalition with DP? |
We will see. It is really up to CTP. They have the choice. Now they have 25 seats, which is 50%. The rest are 24 seats for UBP and DP and 1 seat is by Akinci - BDH. I have just listened on radio Mayis (BDH's radio station) that Akinci is ready to support CTP - BDH coalition with 26 seats and he expects no positions in the government . What can I say, can an offer be any better than this? So, CTP has the choice now and it is a real possibility.
Though we have to look at the big picture here. What would be the reaction from Ankara for this? Anybody who is reading Turkey in recent weeks and knows only a little bit about the politics in Turkey, can see that this country has switched gears for elections. Erdogan has already started to play the nationalistic card on Cyprus with the ports issue and he even went ahead and said that "if the negotiations with the EU halt because of the ports issue, then so be it". What a cliché...
Now, with Erdogan acting with elections in mind, I do not think that he can risk to freak father Denktas by approving a CTP-BDH coalition. Even though Denktas is out from active politics in Cyprus, he is continuously making appearances in Turkey, giving lectures, seminars and delivering talks. He is actively engineering an anti-AKP opposition, his statements are appearing in certain Turkish media. Obviously he is also enjoying the support of the anti-AKP forces in Turkey which are working hard in recent weeks and months. AKP has enough troubles to deal with. Economy is giving SOS signals. Yesterday, as North was conducting an election, Turkey's central bank increased the interest rates by 2.25 points. They are unable to stop the devaluation of New Turkish Lira against USD and Euro. In this rather gloomy situation, I do not see AKP approving CTP-BDH.
In the past, CTP already did have the choice to form a coalition with BDH. They refused. The reason is very simple and straightforward. BDH is very openly critical of Turkish policies in the Cyprus problem. While even CTP has been observed as the "traitors" and "Greek servants" within many circles in Turkey, you can imagine the opinion they have about BDH and Akinci.
To answer your question: CTP has the means to break DP coalition and establish CTP-BDH coalition, however I do not think they will do it. Though, I would be really happy to be wrong on this one.
Finally, I would like to share my opinion on the interpretation of the signals that came out of this election in a compact way. CTP got 46.81% of the votes from Lefkosa in 2005 parliamentary elections and 44.59% from Kyrenia in the same elections. In yesterday's election, CTP got %41 and 37.7% from these regions, respectively. There is a substantial decrease in the votes for CTP.
On the other hand, BDH (Akinci), TKP (Angolemli), BKP (Izcan and *Ozker Ozgur*), KSP and other left parties are still separated (but BKP supported TKP in these elections). I think they are IDIOTS for breaking the union under BDH. They did an excellent job in 2003 parliamentary elections with over 13%. They got more votes than DP! They were the third biggest party.
Now, under the light of this information and considering that there is about 3.5 years till the next general elections, either left really unites or continue loosing their votes to the right.
Left (and primarily CTP) exploited the power of anti-Denktas and frustration feelings of people. They used the power of the potential EU membership and the potential of removal of the isolations.
CTP insisted that EU aid will not be accepted without direct trade. The policy failed. In July, EU will be opening an office in North Lefkosa to direct the economic aid, i.e. we accepted aid without direct trade. It is becoming clear that the CTP's motto "Connect to the world with a YES" was an illusion. It turned out that it is not as easy as with a simple "yes" to CTP. It turned out that many "promises" were in fact useless.
Moreover, Papadopoulos eventually started using his EU leverage. Unfortunately, Talat chose to construct a very extreme anti-Papadopoulos policy and if there is an anti-Greek Cypriot sentiment in North Cyprus, then Talat and CTP has a big role in it. Their mouthpiece "Yeniduzen" has become one of the most anti-Greek Cypriot publications in North. Talat chose to hide behind the "yes" for Annan Plan. Only recently he started to be more constructive and besides openly admitting that recognition is not a possibility, more importantly he said that he is ready to discuss anything, even start from scratch.
The CTP have been slow in understanding the meaning of the EU membership of the Republic of Cyprus. They failed to adapt to this (very difficult) new situation. Membership was a huge success for the Greek side and also for Denktas, whose aim was to create a bigger difference between the sides and thus make it more difficult to reach an agreement between them, hoping that Turkey will never give in to the increased demands of Greeks. This changed many things permanently, while the Turkish side kept shouting the Annan Plan!, the Annan Plan!, the parameters are no longer the same as with the time Annan Plan was generated.
The fuel running the left is running out and left has to do something about it unless they want to see more damage done. Either they get the message and do something about it or they will loose big time in the next general elections. They have the time and means to prepare for such a unification. I hope they succeed. |
|
| Back to top |
|
pg
Deputy
Joined: 17 Jan 2006
Posts: 1485
Location: Cyprus
|
|
Is there any right (not left) groups supporting re-unification?
I was thinking people around Ali Erel and similar.
What is the alternative vision of the future projected by UBP? |
|
| Back to top |
|
boulio
Warnings : 1
Senior Villager
Joined: 09 Oct 2005
Posts: 294
|
|
| Quote: |
| Now, with Erdogan acting with elections in mind, I do not think that he can risk to freak father Denktas by approving a CTP-BDH coalition. Even though Denktas is out from active politics in Cyprus, he is continuously making appearances in Turkey, giving lectures, seminars and delivering talks. He is actively engineering an anti-AKP opposition, his statements are appearing in certain Turkish media. Obviously he is also enjoying the support of the anti-AKP forces in Turkey which are working hard in recent weeks and months. AKP has enough troubles to deal with. Economy is giving SOS signals. Yesterday, as North was conducting an election, Turkey's central bank increased the interest rates by 2.25 points. They are unable to stop the devaluation of New Turkish Lira against USD and Euro. In this rather gloomy situation, I do not see AKP approving CTP-BDH |
its funny how everyone yells and screams about t-pap not talking to talat ,the above paragraph illustrates it to perfection the reason he doesn't and shouldn't.Talat and the rest of the t/c politicians are just puppets of turkey. |
|
| Back to top |
|
cypezokyli
Ministerial
Joined: 20 Dec 2005
Posts: 2344
|
|
its a two way game boulio.
the same antipap rhetoric talat uses , you can find the same antitalat rhetoric in the south.
for no reason at all imo. |
|
| Back to top |
|
Khan
Deputy
Joined: 13 Nov 2005
Posts: 1092
Location: London
|
|
| When Denktas was in power, his views were never far from that of the Turkish military, yet no one had a problem negotiating with him. Now, you have a Turkish Cypriot leader who was opposed to Denktas, who is backed by the pro-settlement AKP, and people have decided it is no use meeting this man! |
|
| Back to top |
|
antonis
Villager
Joined: 20 Aug 2005
Posts: 70
|
|
| Moonskin thanks for the detailed reply. I honestly think that CTP will never manage to get the same number of votes again, perhaps next time it's gonna be UBP and DP that will get the majority. CTP messed up as a "left" party to the big disappointment of many Cypriots. |
|
| Back to top |
|
cypezokyli
Ministerial
Joined: 20 Dec 2005
Posts: 2344
|
|
| i would say that in general the cypriot "left" messed up. |
|
| Back to top |
|
Mete
Warnings : 3
Deputy
Joined: 16 Aug 2005
Posts: 1150
Location: Boston
|
|
| antonis wrote: |
Moonskin thanks for the detailed reply. I honestly think that CTP will never manage to get the same number of votes again, perhaps next time it's gonna be UBP and DP that will get the majority. CTP messed up as a "left" party to the big disappointment of many Cypriots.
|
Who would think that CTP would be in power in the north, AKEL would be in power in the south and the two sides would not even come together and agree on how to open the Ledra Street crossing? People would call you crazy if you told them that CTP would not support opening of new crossings a few years ago but it's happenning right now. Unfortunately, left/right has little meaning in Cyprus. Everyone cares about his own interest and tries to maximize his gains. That's why we're at the same place we were 50 years ago. [/quote] |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
All times are GMT + 3 Hours
Goto page 1, 2 Next
|
| Page 1 of 2 |
| |
 
 
Link Partners
3212 Attacks blocked
|
Register 
Log in 
Album 
Home