President Nikos Christodoulides “has become a prisoner of rising ultranationalism”, Turkish Cypriot Nicosia mayor Mehmet Harmanci said on Thursday, as he reflected on his decision to withdraw from last month’s Cyprus Forum after its organisers ceased referring to him as a mayor.
He told newspaper Yeniduzen that Christodoulides is also a prisoner of Elam, the political party which had first expressed disgust at the Cyprus Forum’s initial decision to invite him to attend the event, but stressed that he also received support from swathes of the Greek Cypriot community.
To this end, he said that when he informed Greek Cypriot Nicosia mayor Charalambos Prountzos of the situation, Prountzos “took a courageous stance and withdrew from the forum in solidarity with me”, and that “subsequently, Akel, the association for historical dialogue and research (AHDR), and other Turkish Cypriots adopted a similar position”.
“This withdrawal created a domino effect. Despite Elam’s pressure, the progressive sections of the Greek Cypriot community demonstrated a strong will to cooperate with Turkish Cypriots,” he said.
He added that “the 12-year relationship we have built based on mutual trust bore fruit”, in reference to his spell as the capital’s Turkish Cypriot mayor, which began in 2014. He will stand for re-election on December 6, with the backing of his own party, the TDP, and fellow pro-federal Cyprus solution party the CTP.
People and associations began to withdraw from the forum days before it was due to begin, after it changed the way in which it referred to Harmanci, who had initially been referred to as the “mayor of [the] Nicosia Turkish Municipality”.
However, last week, the organisers began referring to him as the “leader of the Turkish Cypriot community of Nicosia”.
When he announced his own withdrawal from the event, Harmanci had said that the decision to alter his title had come “following Elam’s reaction”, with Elam having said a week prior that it was “dismayed to learn that the pseudo-mayor of occupied Nicosia will participate in the Cyprus Forum”.
Call to change Harmanci’s title came from ‘Cyprus officials’
The party also said that its members had been invited to attend the forum, but that it had “responded unequivocally that if ‘officials’ of the pseudo-state participate, we will not attend”. Elam member of the European Parliament Geadis Geadi had attended last year’s event.
Later, the Cyprus Forum’s executive president Nicolas Kyriakides told the Cyprus Mail that Elam had demanded of the forum that Harmanci’s invitation be withdrawn.
“We rejected that outright, and it was never under consideration. The statement did, however, draw attention to the title, and we then received official requests from Republic of Cyprus officials pointing out that it is not accepted by the Greek Cypriot side,” he said.
After withdrawing from the event, Harmanci had stressed that “what is newsworthy about the recent events surrounding the Cyprus Forum is not my withdrawal, it is my dear friend, Mayor Charalambos Prountzos’ solidarity”.
“This was never a title issue. I have partaken in many joint events in the south, as well as internationally, with the title of leader or representative of the Turkish Cypriot community of Nicosia,” he said.
Instead, he added, “the issue with recent events was the Cyprus Forum’s unilateral, unapologetic, and public surrender to the demands of a racist, divisive propaganda machine”.