Ustel hits back at defector Altugra: We ‘became the bad guys’ after sacking her

Turkish Cypriot ‘prime minister’ Unal Ustel returned fire in the direction of his former ‘health minister’ Izlem Gurcag Altugra, who left his political party the UBP on Wednesday saying there is “no longer any hope” of the UBP “recovering” from his leadership.

He instead chose to criticise her performance as ‘health minister’ and said that when he relieved her of her duties in 2023, he had no choice but to do so.

“The member of parliament who resigned today was like our daughter, and I was like her big brother. We included this colleague in our team at the request of her family and her father,” he said.

Altugra’s father Erdinc Gurcag was a figure of note inside the UBP, having fought in the 1964 Battle of Tillyria and gone on to serve as Turkish Cypriot Kyrenia mayor over two separate stints, between 1986 and 1989, and between 1998 and 2002.

Regarding her stint as ‘health minister’, Ustel said that “after a while, we noticed some difficulties in her performance”.

“We spoke with her, we continued for a while longer, and then we thanked her and assigned another colleague to the position,” he said.

However, he added, it was after Altugra was relieved of her duties that she began to express displeasure with the coalition’s direction of travel.

“When we appointed her, she saw us as big brothers. We were the good guys. However, when we decided to make changes, we became the bad guys,” he said.

He added that “many people asked why she was not disciplined”, and said on this matter that “we chose to be patient”.

“We thought that she would realise her mistake, but unfortunately, this did not happen,” he said.

He then made reference to the fact that Altugra has refused to attend Monday sessions of the Turkish Cypriot legislature, in which bills drafted by the coalition are typically voted upon, since November last year, saying “while legislative work continued in parliament for months, this colleague’s stance was different”.

“We were patient with this as well, but then finally, today, she announced that she is leaving our party and will continue her path with another party. There is nothing we can do at this point. We wish her good luck,” he said.

Of his own coalition, he insisted that it will not change course despite Altugra’s defection, saying, “we, on the other hand, will continue on our path with our 23 members of parliament and our coalition partners”.

With Altugra having left the UBP, the coalition now commands the effective support of 28 of the 49 members of the Turkish Cypriot legislature – 23 from the UBP, two apiece from the DP and the YDP, and one independent, Hasan Tosunoglu.

Altugra had said on Wednesday that “I had long questioned whether the UBP still held any hope regarding its own values”, and that “seeing what happened, I believed that the party had seriously distanced itself from its founding values and the understanding of the state”.

She added that “there is now no longer any hope of the party recovering”, and that “therefore, I am leaving the UBP, of which I have been a proud member for many years”.

Additionally, she said that “the recent series of events has seriously shaken the state’s administration”, in a likely reference to the ruling coalition’s attempted changes to the payment of the cost-of-living allowance to public sector workers which saw thousands demonstrate both outside and inside the legislature.

“Distrust has been created within society. The greatest responsibility for the resulting situation lies with the UBP. The party has lost its credibility in society. The UBP has transformed into an organisation which disregards the public’s sensitivities,” she said.

At present, she remains a member of the Turkish Cypriot legislature, where members are not allowed to join existing political parties while retaining their seats. As such, she will now sit as an independent until the next election, which will take place at some point before next February.

Once the legislature dissolves itself ahead of the next election, she will join centrist, anti-corruption party the HP, which is led by former Turkish Cypriot chief negotiator Kudret Ozersay.