Towards new horizons in Cyprus

The presidential election held on April 26, 2015, in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) brought a moderate leftist politician to the presidency. Mustafa Ak?nc?, who ran as an independent, became the fourth president of the TRNC with 60.5 percent of the votes in the runoff while his rival Dervi? Ero?lu, the incumbent president, got only 39.5 percent.

Ak?nc? is a well-known figure in Turkish Cypriot politics. He was deputy prime minister and minister of tourism between 1999 and 2001, but he is still remembered as the mayor of Lefkosia, the Turkish part of Nicosia, between 1976 and 1990. He was elected when he was 29 and showed his spirit of collaboration by working closely with his Greek Cypriot counterparts on several important projects, such as a sewage project and a master plan of Nicosia.

More recently, he supported the Annan Plan, as did Greek Cypriot leader Nikos Anastasiades. This raised the hopes for a solution to the ages-long Cyprus problem in the eastern Mediterranean, perhaps leading to the reunification of the divided island. Ak?nc? had pledged he would focus on finding a solution to the deadlock on the island during his election campaign. And the initial signals coming from both communities on the island and the international actors have been positive so far. 

While Anastasiades, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and European Commission President Jean Claude Junker congratulated Ak?nc? on his victory, Special Adviser of the UN Secretary General on Cyprus Espen Barth Eide immediately scheduled to meet with both leaders. He is visiting Cyprus May 4-12 and is planning to bring the two leaders together in a dinner on May 11. The leaders, too, have already declared their intentions to start stalled peace talks soon.
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