Erhurman: A coup is being carried out against north ‘parliament’

Turkish Cypriot opposition party CTP leader Tufan Erhurman on Thursday said a coup is being carried out against the north’s ‘parliament’ as the ‘government’ ploughed ahead with procedures to appoint Ziya Ozturkler as ‘parliament speaker’.

The ruling coalition put on an official handover ceremony on Thursday afternoon, in which outgoing ‘speaker’ Zorlu Tore passed on his responsibilities to Ozturkler, though the opposition maintains and insists that Ozturkler was not duly elected to the role.

The coalition claims Ozturkler received 26 votes in his favour and 23 votes to reject him from ‘MPs’ in a vote last week, but the opposition claims three of the votes counted by the ‘government’ as having been in his favour were actually invalid as the ballot papers had been stamped multiple times.

As such, Erhurman called a press conference in ‘parliament’ on Thursday to condemn the ongoing events, including Wednesday’s publishing of Ozturkler’s appointment as ‘speaker’ in the north’s ‘government’ gazette.

“The decision published in the government gazette is legally null and void. In this context, the handover ceremony is also null and void. What happened is very clearly a coup against the parliament,” he said.

He added that he had informed both Ozturkler and Tore of legal opinions on the matter his party had gathered in advance of Thursday’s ceremony, and of the fact that they were unanimous in their opinion that the three disputed ballot papers were all invalid.

He repeated his comments from Wednesday that he and his party had filed an official objection to the result claimed by the ruling coalition on the night the vote was held, and said that as such, ‘parliament’s’ advisory board would convene next Monday on the matter.

“Since a parliament speaker was not elected, Zorlu Tore will preside over the case. It was announced that the advisory board should convene. The board was given a one-week break for the Isias hotel case. I met with [‘prime minister’] Unal Ustel and went to the journalists and told them the advisory board would convene on the Monday,” he said.

To this end, he said the publishing of Ozturkler’s appointment in the gazette and Thursday’s handover ceremony were both “against the law” and “not valid”.

“There is currently no parliament speaker, this is all null and void,” he said, adding that Ozturkler “does not have the authority to open parliament from the seat in which he is sitting.”

“There is only one parliament in this country. MPs are elected to operate according to the laws of that parliament. Whether one likes it or not, there is only one parliament,” he said.

To this end, he said the CTP “will not accept a situation which is against the law”.

“It is all of our duty as MPs to protect this parliament. The CTP is also aware of this duty and will continue to protect parliament and its laws until the very last,” he said.

“The speakership election is not complete. The procedure is clear, let us complete it. Unless it is completed, all activities in parliament are null and void. If Ziya Ozturkler tries to open parliament on Monday, the CTP will consider that it has not been opened. He has not been legally elected. It is not possible for him to carry out any such activities.”

At the ceremony, Ozturkler said his biggest responsibility was “to end the chaos and ensure parliament works as soon as possible”, saying he wants “to enter a period in which parliament will work sensibly, well, and beautifully”.

He had initially promised that should he fail to be elected within two rounds of voting, he would withdraw his candidacy. However, in the end, he went a full five rounds, bringing the total number of votes held since the start of the month to 15.

In the 15th round, the ruling coalition announced that Ozturkler had received 26 votes in his favour and 23 votes against and that he had thus been elected ‘speaker’.

However, opposition party CTP ‘MP’ Dogus Derya quickly revealed that three ballot papers the ruling coalition had counted as approvals had been stamped twice. In Turkish Cypriot elections, ballot papers which are stamped twice are counted as invalid.

As such, if the three votes are ruled invalid, Ozturkler would have received 23 votes in favour and 23 against, and it is unclear what would happen next in those circumstances.

Ozturkler had been nominated by the ruling coalition after the north’s ‘attorney-general’s’ office had ruled that despite his claims to the contrary,Zorlu Tore had not been re-elected to the role after receiving 23 votes in his favour and 25 votes to reject him.

Tore had claimed that as he was the only candidate, 23 votes were enough to see him re-elected, but the ‘attorney-general’s’ office was of the opinion that as he had not received more approvals than rejections, he had in fact not been elected.