TC opposition party refutes claim of support for presidential system

Turkish Cypriot opposition party CTP has rejected claims made by the north’s ‘transport minister’ Erhan Arikli of support across the north’s political spectrum for a transition to a presidential political system.

Speaking to the Cyprus Mail on Tuesday, CTP general secretary Asim Akansoy said his party “will not approve or allow any legislation which will narrow democracy, neutralise the opposition, or silence the voice of the people.

“Of course, we discuss how to achieve compromise in our political system, but we structure it within the scope of the parliamentary system,” he said.

Akansoy’s statements came after Arikli spoke to Kibris Postasi TV, saying “no party is against a presidential system in principle.

“It is the structure of the current democratic system which corrupts the political parties and the political system itself,” he added.

This echoes comments he had made on the matter last Friday, when he said the north should transition to a presidential system “like the one implemented in the south”.

Such a transition had been earlier outed by ‘foreign minister’ Tahsin Ertugruloglu, who said in August that he “believes in [it] until the end”.

The north currently operates within a parliamentary system, whereby the ‘government’ must have a majority of seats in ‘parliament’ to form and exist.

‘Ministers’ are, with limited exceptions, ‘MPs’ as well, and the final say on the day-to-day running of the north is made by the ‘prime minister’, who is the leader of the largest party of the ruling ‘parliamentary’ coalition.

The ‘president’, recognised internationally as the Turkish Cypriot leader, acts independently of the ‘government’, and the ‘government’ acts independently of him.

In the context of the Cyprus problem, this means the Turkish Cypriot leader is not occupied with the day-to-day running of the north and has as his primary role the Cyprus problem and negotiations in that context.