#TurkishCypriots #Kibris #Bankrupt
The Cypriot capital of Nicosia is divided into the Greek Cypriot area, and the Turkish occupied area. A display of the Turkish flag on a mountain slope, directly faces the Greek Cypriot side. Photo: Shutterstock, Smoking Lenn
Turkish Cypriots cast their ballots on Sunday (23 January) in a snap legislative election in the northern third of the Mediterranean island after a campaign dominated by an economic crisis.
The self-proclaimed Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) — recognised only by Ankara — has been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic and the plummeting value of the Turkish lira.
Polls closed at 6:00 pm (1600 GMT) and provisional turnout stood at 58.2 percent at the close, according to the election commission. In the 2018 legislative poll, turnout was 66.2 percent.
Analysts noted apathy among the roughly 204,000 voters, whose main concerns centre on health, safety and economic welfare.
“Compared to the previous elections in northern Cyprus, there is much less energy and enthusiasm in the air,” political scientists Ahmet Sozen and Devrim Sahin wrote on the website of Italian think tank ISPI.
Cyprus has been split since 1974 when Turkish forces occupied the northern part of the island in response to a military coup sponsored by the junta in power in Greece at the time.
Unlike in previous TRNC elections, campaigning this time has focused on the territory’s economic woes rather than any talk of a solution to the problem.

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