Turkish Cypriot opposition political party CTP leader Sila Usar Incirli on Tuesday night set out her party’s plans for local government, with the Turkish Cypriots set to hold local elections on December 6, alongside the legislative elections which will take place on the same day.
Her party’s local government manifesto, named “Local Vision 2030”, sets out five axes along which the CTP intends to operate the municipalities it wins in December.
The first is “honest, transparent, and participatory governance”, with the party promising “the proper use of public resources, accountability, fiscal discipline, and strengthening public participation in decision-making processes”.
Second on the list was “planned, modern, and accessible towns”, which will entail “the development of road, water, sewage, and rainwater infrastructure, widespread adoption of digital governance, and creation of accessible living spaces for all”.
The third axis was “social municipalism which leaves no one behind”, which includes “developing home care and social support services, expanding nurseries and after-school centres for children, empowering women, and prioritising gender equality”.
Fourth was “green, clean, and resilient towns”, with the party promising to “promote recycling, increase green spaces, conserve natural resources, and create towns resilient to climate change”.
The fifth and final axis was “local production, local identity, and shared prosperity”, which entails “supporting local producers, artisans, small businesses and cooperatives, strengthening environmental tourism, rural development, and the Cittaslow concept”.
Cittaslow is an organisation founded in Italy which aims to improve the quality of life in towns across the world by slowing down their overall pace, in terms of their use of spaces and the flow of life and traffic through them.
CTP holds seven Turkish Cypriot municipalities, UBP holds five
The CTP will go into December’s election defending seven of the 18 Turkish Cypriot mayoralties, with all seven incumbents – Famagusta’s Suleyman Ulucay, Kyrenia’s Murat Senkul, Kythrea and Louroujina’s Ali Karavezirler, Dikomo’s Yuksel Celebi, Lefka’s Aziz Kaya, Mesaoria’s Ahmet Latif, and Ayios Epiktitos and Ayios Amvrosios’ Ceyhun Kirok – all standing for re-election.
Additionally, the party has on this occasion endorsed Turkish Cypriot Nicosia mayor Mehmet Harmanci’s bid for re-election, with Incirli herself having stood against him in 2022.
Elsewhere, the party has backed Damla Soyalp in Kioneli and Yerolakkos, Orhan Bebek in Akanthou, Salih Ruso in Lefkoniko and Kiados, Cemil Saricizmeli in Galatia and Komi Kebir, Turan Rahvancioglu in Lapithos, Karavas, and Mytou, Tevfik Goren in Yialousa and Rizokarpaso, Ahmet Zort in Pergamos, and Semsi Oyuncu in Ayios Sergios.
The UBP, currently the largest Turkish Cypriot political party, is fielding 18 candidates of its own, having won five of the 18 mayoralties in 2022.
The party’s five incumbents – Morphou’s Mahmut Ozcinar, Trikomo’s Hasan Sadikoglu, Kioneli and Yerolakkos’ Huseyin Amcaoglu, Galatia and Komi Kebir’s Fatma Cimen Tugcu, and Yialousa and Rizokarpaso’s Hamit Bakirci – will all stand for re-election.
Fellow incumbents, Pergamos’ Bulent Bebek and Lefkoniko and Kiados’ Halil Kasim have also been given the party’s backing.
In addition, the UBP has fielded Mehmet Aktunc in Nicosia, Koral Bozkurt in Famagusta, Bekir Pasaoglu in Kyrenia, Ibrahim Erbildim in Lapithos, Karavas, and Myrtou, Mehmetali Tuncbilek in Dikomo, Hasan Adahan in Mesaoria, Muharrem Ozdemir in Akanthou, Hasan Oksuz in Lefka, Tanyel Oztemiz in Ayios Sergios, Dervis Albayrak in Ayios Epiktitos and Ayios Amvrosios, and Ismail Celer in Kythrea and Louroujina.
As such, of the incumbent 18 mayors, only two do no have the endorsement of one of the two largest Turkish Cypriot political parties, with Lapithos, Karavas, and Myrtou’s Firat Ataser backed by the DP, the ruling coalition’s junior partner, and Ayios Sergios’ Katip Demir in jail.
Ustel promises €640 a month for working mothers
Elsewhere on the campaign trail, ‘prime minister’ and UBP leader Unal Ustel focused on the legislative elections, announcing plans to boost benefits for young families should his party be returned to the Turkish Cypriot administration in December.
He promised to “provide working mothers with monthly childcare and nursing support equal to half of the minimum wage”, which currently stands at 70,893TL (€1,281), meaning that the new benefit would amount to €640 per month.
He also announced that all mothers of children aged up to six years old, who have never worked, will be entitled to a benefit amounting to a third of the minimum wage, around €427 per month, and that no value added tax will be levied on all products aimed at children up to the age of 12.
A day earlier, Turkish former AK Party MP Mehmet Metiner appeared at a campaign event organised by Erhan Arikli’s hard-right YDP, declaring that he had been naturalised as a citizen of the ‘TRNC’ and that pursuant to this, he intended both to vote for the YDP in December and campaign for the party until then.
“There can be no Cyprus without Turkey, and no Turkey without Cyprus. I do not see the December 6 elections as an ordinary party election … You must never allow those who think like Greek Cypriots to govern Cyprus,” he said.
Metiner has previously been the subject of controversy in Turkey, having once called the Republic of Turkey “a Ba’athist regime”, and said that “its time is up and the country has suffered endless pain because of the republic”.