More than three quarters of Turkish Cypriots support federal solution – poll

More than three quarters of Turkish Cypriots support a federal solution to the Cyprus problem, according to the results of a poll which were published on Tuesday.

The poll was conducted by CMIRS, and asked 500 Turkish Cypriots for their political opinions during the month of March, with exactly 78.5 per cent of respondents expressing support for a bicommunal, bizonal federal solution with political equality.

Broken down, 14.8 per cent of respondents said they would “definitely accept” such a solution, 28 per cent said they would accept it, and 35.7 per cent said they would “moderately accept” it.

However, 79.8 per cent of respondents also expressed concern about the “possibility of renewed tension and conflict on the island”, while 80.4 per cent said they were concerned about recent energy and security agreements signed by the Republic of Cyprus.

Those agreements have seen it gravitate geopolitically towards the State of Israel, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu having named Cyprus in his plans to create a “hexagon of alliances” for his country in the region and ramping up his rhetoric in the direction of Turkey.

Netanyahu had on Sunday accused Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of “accommodating … Iran’s terror regime and its proxies” and of “massacring his own Kurdish citizens”.

In response, Erdogan’s communications director said that Netanyahu has “orchestrated a genocide in Gaza and attacked seven countries in the region”.

“He is a criminal with arrest warrants to his name with no friends left. He is dragging the region to chaos and conflict as a political survival strategy. Everyone knows that he has no moral values and legitimacy to lecture anyone. He will be held accountable sooner or later for his crimes against humanity,” he said.

Concerns about the Republic of Cyprus’ relations with Israel notwithstanding, respondents also expressed misgivings regarding Turkey’s influence on society in the north, with 74.4 per cent expressing concern.

Broken down, 23.5 per cent said Turkey’s growing influence in the north is “very concerning”, while 18.5 per cent said it is concerning, while 32.5 per cent said it is “somewhat concerning”.

The poll’s finding of elevated support for a federal solution comes with the Turkish Cypriot electorate having elected pro-federation candidate Tufan Erhurman as their leader in a landslide last October.

Erhurman won more votes than any Turkish Cypriot electoral candidate in history, taking 62.8 per cent of the vote and unseating the pro-two state solution then incumbent Ersin Tatar.