FES BRIEFING CYPRUS Trade Union Monitor June 2021 POLITICAL, ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL FRAMEWORK POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT Ever since a Greek coup and an ensuing Turkish invasion in 1974 the island of Cyprus is divided into two parts. The Greek Cypriot community lives south of the dividing line in the inter­nationally recognized Republic of Cyprus. The Turkish Cypri­ots live in the north in the internationally not recognized Turk­ish Republic of Northern Cyprus. 1 The Cyprus peace process remained dormant in 2020. How­ever, the year saw a dramatic escalation of tension in the con­frontation between the Greek Cypriots on the one side and the Turkish Cypriots as well as Turkey on the other, over Hy­drocarbon reserves off the coast of Cyprus which then also spilled over to Greece. The northern part of Cyprus has continued to suffer from chronic political and economic instability in a tumultuous year which not only witnessed the Covid-19 pandemic but also one of its most contested presidential election in decades. The presidential election process, which stretched from Feb­ruary to October because of the pandemic, also led to the break-up of the ruling UBP(National Unity Party)-HP(People’s Party) coalition just before the first round of the election in October, and the TRNC continued with a lame duck govern­ment until December when a minority government was even­tually put together. 1 The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus(TRNC) is only recognised by the Republic of Turkey. While for Turkey and the Turkish Cypriots, Ersin Tatar serves as President of the TRNC, the international community considers him the communal leader of the Turkish Cypriots. As the government of the Republic of Cyprus remains internationally recognised as the government of the whole of the island, the entire island is now considered to be a member of the European Union. However, the Acquis Communautaire is suspended in northern Cyprus pending a political settlement to the Cyprus problem(see Protocol no. 10 of the Accession Treaty). Due to the Covid-19 outbreak, the TRNC parliament decided to postpone the presidential election originally scheduled for April 26 to October 11. The incumbent Mustafa Akinci contin­ued to serve in office until the new election date. The Prime Minister Ersin Tatar(UBP) won the presidential election with 51.7 percent defeating Akinci in the runoff which was held on October 18. Akinci publicly protested about the involvement of Ankara against him(and in favour of particularly Tatar) in the presidential campaign but did not go as far as contesting the result. Other presidential candidates including the main opposition Republican Turkish Party(CTP) leader Tufan Erhur­man, independent candidate Serdar Denktas as well as the Deputy Prime Minister and presidential candidate Kudret Oz­ersay(HP), to varying degrees, expressed their discomfort about Ankara’s involvement in favour of Tatar. Particularly, the surprise decision to open a part of the fenced off town of Varosha to the access of the public, which was announced by Ersin Tatar during a joint press conference with Turkish President Erdogan in Ankara on October 6 was seen as a clear sign showing Ankara’s support for Tatar. Following Tatar’s election, the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) Spokesperson Omer Celik did not hide his party’s satis­faction from seeing Akinci’s back and said that a new era based on positive relations with Ankara, had begun thanks to Tatar’s election. The surprise ›Varosha opening‹ also brought the UBP-HP coa­lition to an end. The Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Min­ister Kudret Ozersay(HP) said that he had not been informed about this move and withdrew his party from the coalition ac­cusing Tatar of ›not recognising state organs‹ and not ›fulfill­ing his responsibilities to his coalition partner‹. There has been no cabinet change until after the second round of the elec­tion, however, because Tatar did not tender the resignation of the government to the president creating a government crisis. The month of November passed without the TRNC having a Prime Minister; Tatar’s rejection to authorize an acting Prime Minister led to a political vacuum. What further complicated the government formation process was the UBP’s failure to elect a new leader to replace Tatar(reportedly, because Anka­1