North opposition ‘will not allow’ Ozturkler to attend budget debate as ‘speaker’

Opposition ‘MPs’ in the north “will not allow” Ziya Ozturkler, the man the ruling coalition declared as ‘parliament speaker’, to attend discussions over next year’s ‘state’ budget, ‘parliamentary’ finance committee deputy chairman and CTP ‘MP’ Erkut Sahali said on Friday.

Speaking to the Cyprus Mail, Sahali confirmed that his party will attend committee meetings when they are set to commence on Tuesday, but said, “we will not give permission for the fake speaker to attend.”

Under normal circumstances, it is customary for the north’s ‘parliament speaker’ to sit in on the first day of meetings regarding the ‘state’ budget, including the opening session and the discussion regarding the ‘parliament’s’ budget – both of which are scheduled for Tuesday.

Asked if his party would walk out if Ozturkler insisted on attending, he said this was not the plan, and that instead, “we will simply not give permission for him to attend. If he insists, the meeting simply will not start”.

Six days are currently penned in for committee meetings, though last year’s committee stage took a total of 24 days to complete, with plenary discussions ongoing well into December.

Things may be complicated further by the extraordinary situation regarding the ‘speaker’, with Ozturkler on Friday daring those who believe he was not duly elected to “take me to court if you think it was illegal”.

Speaking to the north’s public broadcaster BRT, he insisted he will continue to act as ‘speaker’.

“We will make parliament work, we cannot leave society without a budget or without laws. Since the CTP claims it was illegal, let’s go to court and act according to the decision that will be made,” he said.

With this in mind, he added that lawyers have informed him that even if, as the opposition claims, three of the votes counted in his favour were invalid and he actually received 23 votes in his favour and 23 against, “this would mean the election was won because I did not receive more votes against me than for me.”

Were this question to be posed to the north’s ‘attorney-general’s’ office, it is unclear which way the decision would go, though last month, the office ruled that despite his claims to the contrary, Zorlu Tore had not been re-elected to the role after receiving 23 votes in his favour and 25 votes to reject him.

Tore had claimed that as he was the only candidate, 23 votes were enough to see him re-elected, but the ‘attorney-general’s’ office was of the opinion that as he had not received more approvals than rejections, he had in fact not been elected. However, a tied vote may be less cut and dry.

‘Economy minister’ Olgun Amcaoglu had expressed anxiety on Thursday regarding the potential ramifications of the ongoing dispute on budget discussions, saying, “not starting budget discussions in the committee is the greatest evil which can be done to this country, a betrayal.”

He had also said the ‘government’ and the opposition “need to come together to consult on his issue again, but it should not be seen as a step back.”

“Let us take a step forward. We, as 50 MPs, should be able to take a step forward together … We should be providing consensus, or whatever it is called, to ensure that a step forward is taken,” he said.

Additionally, he said, the year 2025 will be “much more difficult” economically than previous years for Turkish Cypriots.

One ruling coalition ‘MP’, Yasemin Ozturk, has already broken ranks with the coalition and refused to back Ozturkler, saying on Wednesday that the three votes were “against the law”.

Ozturk chairs ‘parliament’s’ legal committee, and said, “according to the law, there should be a secret ballot and an open count. The three votes are against the law. This should have been discussed by committee and concluded.”

Both the ruling coalition and the opposition have only agreed that ‘parliament’ was in session once since Ozturkler claimed he was elected on October 18. That session took place on Tuesday, with discussions centring around whether Ozturkler had been elected or not.