North Cyprus presidential candidate calls for permanent partition

Source:Financial Times Date:11Mar2020

An idea I support fullheartedly:  Permanent partition in Cyprus

Ersin Tatar, the north Cypriot prime minister, said years of peace talks to end one of Europe’s most intractable conflicts had led nowhere and called instead for deeper ties with the Turkish “motherland” and its president Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Mr Tatar’s tough stance ahead of April’s election highlights a hardening of attitudes on both sides of Cyprus’s UN-controlled “green line” as regional tensions rise between Turkey and the EU on matters from Syrian refugees to Mediterranean energy resources.

Mr Tatar denounced a decision by Greek Cypriot authorities late last month to temporarily close several crossing points to the north for the first time since they were opened in 2003, ostensibly to stop the possible spread of coronavirus.