Several local dailies report that Sener Elcil, the general secretary of TRNC Teachers trade union, KTOS, in a written statement yesterday, accused Turkey and its Turkish officials for not respecting the will of the Turkish Cypriots.
Issuing a written statement, Elcil berated the AKP government in Turkey and Turkey’s Deputy Prime Minister Besir Atalay on his latest statement and said: “You are a Colony Minister [in] that you have violated the international law with this separatist system you have created after 1974 and you will continue to be the puppet of the governments here”.
Elcil accused the Turkish government of administrating the “northern part of the island as a colonial power”. He said also that Atalay visits the island “every week”, and gives instructions to ruling UBP officials; adding that Atalay, in the framework of the integration and assimilation policy followed by Turkey, pokes his nose into their business exactly like a Colonel.
He went on to say that Atalay had visited the TRNC only after the UBP congress, since he felt uncomfortable about the disputes over the leadership elections which were taking place in the UBP party. During his visit, he had given instructions to Kucuk, (who was the successful candidate).
The succession to the leadership of the UBP was fraught with scandal after the opposition candidate Ahmet Kasif accused Kucuk of using bribes such as giving land or cheap bank loans . The Supreme Court ruled the first election to be invalid following alleged irregularities in voting procedure and set a date for a second election. However, in an even closer second vote, Kucuk was appointed as UBP party leader.
