Cyprus at Centre of Trump Deal to Allow Imamoglu Arrest, Turkish Opposition says

Ozel was addressing a rally in the city of Mersin, a short way across the sea from Cyprus, and referred to the arrest of Imamoglu, the man his party has since chosen to stand in the next Turkish presidential election, as a “coup d’état”.

“Recep Tayyip Erdogan received the permission for the March 19 coup d’état from Trump. The March 19 coup d’état was carried out with the support of the US. After the March 19 coup d’état, the Cyprus case was abandoned, in return for [the US] remaining silent about the March 19 coup d’état,” he said.

“No voice was raised when the Turkic republics recognised southern Cyprus,” he said, in reference to a joint declaration signed by Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and non-Turkic Tajikistan with the European Union earlier this month which ruled out the prospect of any of them recognising the north as an independent country.

As such, he said, “northern Cyprus was isolated, and what they called the ‘baby homeland’, to us, the ‘brother homeland’, was sold by the AK Party”.

Erdogan’s AK Party’s spokesman Omer Celik denied the accusations, describing them as “both a political lie and political incompetence”.

He added, “Ozgur Ozel’s questioning of our president’s sensitivity regarding the Turkish Cypriot cause and the TRNC is nothing but political ignorance”.

“Both our nation and the international community are well aware of our president’s sensitivity regarding the Turkish Cypriot cause and the TRNC.”

The joint declaration which precluded the Turkic states’ recognising of the north was signed in the Uzbek city of Samarkand earlier this month said all five countries “reaffirmed our strong commitment” to United Nations security council resolutions 541 and 550.

Resolution 541 said the security council “deplores the declaration of the Turkish Cypriot authorities of the purported secession of part of the Republic of Cyprus” while calling on UN member states not to recognise the north.

Resolution 550 said it “reiterates the call upon all states not to recognise the purported state of the ‘Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus’, set up by secessionist acts, and calls upon them not to facilitate or in any way assist the aforesaid secessionist entity”.

Imamoglu was arrested on March 19, accused of having “led a criminal organisation”, while the Istanbul chief public prosecutor’s office saying it had obtained “footage of money counting inside the CHP”.

Additionally, charges of “aiding the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK)”, a proscribed terrorist organisation in Turkey and the European Union, were also filed against Imamoglu, with the Istanbul chief public prosecutor’s office saying that “individuals with connections to the PKK were hired in the Greater Istanbul municipality and its subsidiaries”.

The Istanbul chief public prosecutor’s office said these charges are related to activities during last year’s local elections, where Imamoglu won re-election as Istanbul mayor by a landslide and the CHP became the first party since the ruling AK Party was formed in 2001 to beat them in a nationwide count

The arrest came hours after Imamoglu’s degree was revoked by Istanbul University over a report which found that the university in northern Cyprus at which he began his studies before transferring to Istanbul was not adequately recognised.

His arrest sparked protests across Turkey, with Turkish nationals living in Cyprus also taking to the streets.

Source: Reuters