Questions raised over meetings between Tacoy, Ustel, and Yilmaz

Questions have been raised in the north over meetings held by ‘MP’ Hasan Tacoy with Turkish Vice President Cevdet Yilmaz and his own ‘prime minister’ Unal Ustel.

According to website Gundem Kibris, Tacoy met with Yilmaz while the latter visited Cyprus during the celebrations of the 40th anniversary of the north’s unilateral declaration of independence on November 15.

Gundem Kibris claims sources say the pair “evaluated the agenda and exchanged views” during the meeting, while some believe this meeting to be evidence of Tacoy making manoeuvres to force his party the UBP to hold a party conference sooner than its leader Ustel would like.

The same outlet reported on Wednesday that Ustel had invited Tacoy to the ‘prime ministry’ building for a meeting about what had been said in the meeting between Tacoy and Yilmaz.

During the summer, Tacoy, then ‘labour minister’, had demanded a party conference be held this autumn, stating in a televised interview in August that he would challenge Ustel for the party leadership.

He was relieved of his ‘ministerial’ duties the following week and returned to the backbenches, continuing his calls for a party conference.

In September, the UBP ruled out the possibility of holding a party conference this year, with its party congress clarifying that the relevant laws in the north “regulate that party conferences are held at least once every three years.”

“Since the regulation change in 2015, our party’s conference elections have been held every three years. Therefore, our next party conference will be held in 2024 on the day determined by our party congress”, they said.