Turkish Cypriot politicians comment on the results of the parliamentary elections in the Republic of CyprusIllegal Bayrak television (23.05.11, online) broadcasted that the self-styled prime minister of the breakaway regime Irsen Kucuk commented on the results of the parliamentary elections held yesterday in the Republic of Cyprus and said it seems that some events should be expected. “We have to work more carefully in the forthcoming period”, he said in statements to illegal Bayrak, arguing that the balances in the government-controlled areas of the island are also of great importance for the arguments which the Turkish Cypriot side will put on the table during the Cyprus talks.

Kucuk noted that he preserves his view that ruling AKEL party “might assess its decline” in the elections and change its stance on the Cyprus problem. He said that the results were not a surprise for them and estimated that the ruling coalition in the government-controlled areas will continue, but its future work will be influenced.

According to Illegal Bayrak television (23.05.11, online), Ferdi Sabit Soyer, chairman of the Republican Turkish Party (CTP), pointed out to the votes which ELAM party took in the elections. “Even though the number seems small, it could be important in the future”, he argued claiming that “this percentage of a right-wing extremist and fascist party should be carefully examined by the political parties” in the occupied part of Cyprus. Soyer said it seems that no change will happen in the Cyprus Government and added that the President of DIKO will not want to give up the post of the Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Meanwhile, Mehmet Cakici, chairman of the Social Democracy Party (TDP), also commented on the results of the elections. In statements to illegal Bayrak he said: “DIKO will now start assessing the result. It seems that hard debates will happen. It seems that this tension will negatively influence the Government as well. This will weaken Christofias”.

Furthermore, Turkish Cypriot daily Haberdar published comments by political party leaders on the election results in the Republic of Cyprus.

In statements to Haberdar, Soyer claimed that if the post of the Speaker of the House of Representatives is won by DIKO, DISY, EDEK and EVRO.KO, this will not be a pleasant situation, because these parties oppose a federal solution in Cyprus.

Cakici told Haberdar that the decrease in DIKO’s seats in the parliament makes the relations between this party and AKEL more difficult. He argued that President Christofias is weakened at the negotiating table.

Serdar Denktas, chairman of the Democratic Party (DP), said that the results of the public opinion polls showed that DISY would win and this was the result of the elections. He expressed the view that the other parties will not permit DISY to elect the Speaker of the House of Representatives. He argued that the general policy in the government-controlled area will not change and that the current policy will continue.

Turgay Avci, chairman of the Freedom and Reform party (ORP), said that the important thing is to see how the alliances for electing the Speaker of the House of Representatives will be formed. He argued that the alliances to be formed will be decisive for the 2013 presidential elections.