Stemgedrag Turske Cypriotten weerspiegelt teleurstelling in EU (en)
The victory of nationalist hardliners in Sunday's parliamentary elections in northern Cyprus is due to disappointment at the EU's failure to end its isolation, Turkish Cypriot President Mehmet Ali Talat has said.
The National Unity Party (UBP), which won the weekend poll, was able to take "advantage from the Turkish Cypriot people's disappointment with the failure of the European Union and the international community to fulfil their pledges," Mr Talat told the BRTK television channel on Monday (20 April), reports AFP news agency.
The final results of the election showed the UBP receiving around 44 percent of the vote and taking 26 seats in the 50-seat parliament, beating the governing left-wing Republican Turkish Party.
The UBP favours a two-state solution and has called for international recognition of the Turkish-Cypriot breakaway state, recognised only by Ankara.
The European Union had promised to take measures to end the economic isolation of northern Cyprus after Turkish Cypriots in 2004 strongly backed a UN blueprint to end the island's division.
But its efforts have been stymied by Greek Cypriots, who rejected the UN plan shortly before Cyprus became a member of the EU.
Reacting to the vote, the European Commission said it did not believe the nationalists' win would throw re-unification talks with the Greek part of the island off course.
"We do not think that the outcome of the elections in the northern part of Cyprus should have a direct bearing on the negotiating process," said an enlargement spokesperson on Monday.
The spokesperson stressed that Mr Talat remains in charge of negotiations for the Turkish side.
UBP leader Dervis Eroglu on Sunday night said he would support the talks.
The island has been divided into a Turkish Cypriot northern part and a Greek Cypriot southern part since 1974, when Turkey invaded in response to a Greek Cypriot coup seeking to unite with mainland Greece.