Turkish Commander insulted the KKTC Prime Minister at ceremony
Newly emerged tension between the Turkish Cypriot prime minister and a
commander of the powerful Turkish military on the divided island of Cyprus
appears to be difficult to repair, with an exchange of harsh remarks
having
taken place between the two; nevertheless, as of yesterday afternoon, the
parties seemed to be able to put the matter to one side during a
high-level
Coordination Board meeting led by President Mehmet Ali Talat.
The tension surfaced when Lt. Gen. Hayri Kivrikoglu, commander of the
Turkish Cypriot Peace Forces Command (KTBK), refused to shake hands with
Prime Minister Ferdi Sabit Soyer when they met on Sunday night at a
reception hosted in honor of Ret. Gen. Nihat Ilhan, who returned to the
divided island earlier on Sunday for the first time since 1963 when his
wife
and three children were killed in 1963 by Greek Cypriots during
inter-communal fighting.
Also on Sunday at Soyer's Republican Turkish Party (CTP) annual assembly,
the Turkish national anthem, which is also accepted as national anthem in
the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (KKTC), was not sung and a one
minute silence was not observed for the memory of martyrs unlike what has
usually been done at past annual assemblies.
Gen. Kivrikoglu protested this situation by not shaking hands with CTP
leader Soyer at the reception, while he also re****tedly asked him the
reason
for not singing the national anthem. The general was also angry with the
fact that CTP assembly was held on the very same day when Turkish Cypriots
marked the Martyrs Day.
As of yesterday morning, Soyer challenged Kivrikoglu at a television
program
first of all saying that the general's attitude was not appropriate
especially taking into consideration the fact that Pakistan's Education
Minister Javed Ashraf Qazi was also standing nearby at the same reception.
"We take our power from the people and we depend on the people's will.
Within this framework, we don't occupy these offices via permission,"
Soyer
said in strongly-worded remarks in an apparent reference to the Turkish
military's dominant role in the Turkish politics when he also said that
the
tension was a reflection of elections debate in Turkey.
Nonetheless, as of yesterday afternoon, when the parties gathered at a
Coordination Board meeting -- which is held for discussing key issues of
the
KKTC together with members of the Turkish Cypriot government as well as
with
representatives of the Turkish military on the island -- both sides
avoided
touching the issue, sources close to the KKTC presidency told Today's
Zaman.
The issue was also not brought up at the meeting led by President Talat,
the
same sources emphasized.
Admitting that Kivrikoglu's reaction against Soyer was "dispro****tionate,"
sources, however, drew attention to the fact that CTP's manner at its
annual
assembly might be easily considered as "provocative" when taking into
consideration the fact that one minute of silence was not observed
although
it was Martyrs Day.
CTP Secretary-General Ömer Kalyoncu, meanwhile, has already made a
statement
saying that there was no legal obligation for singing the national anthem
at
annual assemblies of a political party.
"The CTP directors could easily reckon how harsh reactions might have come
against such a manner at the annual assembly, nevertheless they wanted to
give their left-wing sup****ters a message saying that they were still not
pro-establishment although the are the major partner in the ruling
coalition
government. Thus, CTP prioritized domestic policy goals," the same sources
close to the KKTC Presidency said, while noting that now the burden would
be
on shoulders of Talat in order to prevent this tension from becoming a
major
crisis. The same sources sounded hopeful following the Coordination
Board's
meeting as the meeting apparently passed peacefully, yet they were
cautious
as well saying that the recent tension's repercussions were likely to be
seen in the coming days. (todayszaman.com, EMINE KART, March 21, 2007)
http://www.info-turk.be/
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