Turkish Cypriots were on Tuesday incensed Turkish nationalist political party MHP leader Devlet Bahceli’s comments as he twice called for northern Cyprus to join Turkey in the aftermath of a landslide Turkish Cypriot leadership election victory for Tufan Erhurman, who supports the island’s reunification.

Turkish Cypriot Nicosia mayor Mehmet Harmanci led the charge, saying that Bahceli’s “concern is not a political vision of the love of his country or homeland”.

“These people’s concern is the ending of the mentality which sees the TRNC as their backyard. It is vital that the hitmen, the mafia and the money-laundering system which has infested the country, and the scourge of those who feed off this system, are cut off. We will make you a promise. We will purge the country of this mafia system,” he said.

His party the TDP’s leader Zeki Celer also condemned Bahceli’s comments, saying they were “unacceptable to any Turkish Cypriot, whether they be on the right or the left”.

“Disrespecting the free will and democratic electoral decisions of a society which has fought for many years for its existence, and spewing hate against the Turkish Cypriot people, is the very essence of fascism, no matter how you look at it,” he said.

He added that “the Turkish Cypriot people will continue to exist by their own free will”.

“We will fight for this until the end. Let this be known,” he said.

Later on Tuesday, the CTP, the party Erhurman leads and will continue to lead until he is sworn in as Turkish Cypriot leader on Friday, also made a statement condemning Bahceli’s comments, describing them as “unacceptable”.

“Such statements are a clear attack on and disrespect towards the Turkish Cypriot people’s right to self-determination, their years-long fight for self-governance, and their demand to be equal political subjects, respected internationally,” the party said.

It added, “any political discourse which trivialises the will of the Turkish Cypriot people is unacceptable to us”.

Former Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci, who served between 2015 and 2020, said of Bahceli’s comments that “I have repeatedly emphasised that while the rhetoric of ‘two states’ persists, it is actually a province of us becoming a province [of Turkey]”.

“I sincerely congratulate Devlet for not hiding behind his hands. Why does he expect this decision from the parliament of a state which Turkey claims to have ‘recognised’, but the world has not?”, he asked.

He as such urged Bahceli to submit a motion to Turkey’s parliament in the matter, “and not just for the northern part of Cyprus, for the southern part of Cyprus, as well”.

“Is this not the essence of his frequently used slogan, ‘Cyprus is Turkish and will remain Turkish?”

Bahceli had initially called for the north to join Turkey on Sunday night, and doubled down on his comments during a speech to the MHP’s MPs on Monday.

“Cyprus is Turkish and will always remain so. Cyprus is much more than an island. After Duzce, the 81st [province], the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus being the 82nd is now a matter of life and death. When we look at Cyprus, we see the homeland,” he said, calling for a ‘parliamentary’ vote in the north on joining Turkey.

Serdar Denktash, the son of influential late Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash, said Bahceli’s comments “deeply wounded me”.

“The motherland must respect the will of the people, so that we can then receive the same respect from other countries,” he added, before highlighting that prior to the election, Bahceli had stated his support for a two-state solution to the Cyprus problem.

“If the term ‘two states’ refers to the dissolution of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus and the establishment of the Republic of Cyprus on the island and the Republic of Turkey as the second state – and this is the message conveyed by this statement – our people’s response to this approach will be negative,” he said.

Meanwhile, local nationalist party DP secretary-general Serhat Akpinar, who had endorsed the campaign of now outgoing Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar, told newspaper Yeniduzen of his distaste at Bahceli’s comments.

“This is not an acceptable statement. How does Bahceli have the courage to make these statements? I do not understand … We do not find these statements accurate. We have no intention to be annexed, and we never will,” he said.

Bahceli’s comments also drew negative reactions from some in Turkey, with opposition party CHP leader Ozgur Ozel quipping that “they are trying to give Cyprus a registration plate number”, in reference to the fact that every province in Turkey is numbered from one to 81 on vehicle registration plates.

“Unfortunately, they are trying … to say, ‘let Cyprus be our 82nd province’ and to not recognise the Cypriot elections. This is utterly wrong. If you are telling the world to ‘recognise North Cyprus’, you must first recognise it yourself. You must respect its will,” he said.