Northern Cypriot President Ersin Tatar on Friday gave the mandate of forming the new government to National Unity Party (UBP) Chairman and Prime Minister Faiz Sucuoglu.
Tatar received the heads of political parties as part of efforts to form a government, according to Turkish News Agency-Cyprus (TAK).
Speaking to reporters following the meeting, Sucuoglu said they plan to complete the government forming process without wasting time and present the new Cabinet list by Monday morning.
They aim to complete the process by the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha, Sucuoglu stressed, saying they will first meet with the coalition partners Friday evening, and their program will be clarified after that meeting.
Tatar, for his part, said: “As a result of the evaluations and negotiations, I came to the conclusion that the only person who can form the government is Sucuoglu.”
On Wednesday, the president accepted the resignation of the government.
A statement was released about the government’s resignation following a meeting between Tatar and Sucuoglu, TAK reported.
The coalition government of the UBP, Rebirth Party, and Democrat Party was formed on Feb. 21 under the chairmanship of Sucuoglu, and approved by Tatar.
Last October, Ersan Saner, then-prime minister of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), submitted his resignation to the president.
Cyprus has been mired in a decades-long dispute between Greek and Turkish Cypriots, despite a series of diplomatic efforts by the UN to achieve a comprehensive settlement.
Ethnic attacks starting in the early 1960s forced Turkish Cypriots to withdraw into enclaves for their safety.
In 1974, a Greek Cypriot coup aiming at Greece’s annexation led to Turkiye’s military intervention as a guarantor power to protect Turkish Cypriots from persecution and violence.
The TRNC was founded in 1983. It has seen an on-and-off peace process in recent years, including a failed 2017 initiative in Switzerland under the auspices of guarantor countries Turkiye, Greece, and the UK.
The Greek Cypriot administration entered the EU in 2004, the same year Greek Cypriots thwarted the UN’s Annan plan to end the decades-long dispute.
Source: Anadolu Agency