By This post is also available in: ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΑ (GREEK) TÜRKÇE (TURKISH)
CTP‘s new chairperson, Sıla Usar İncirli, made various contacts and statements during her visit to Ankara last week.
In one of these statements, speaking to Yusuf Tunçer of Aydınlık Newspaper, she said, “The word ‘federation’ has become a poisonous word. People feel very uncomfortable when they hear it. Yet, what we imply with it is very different. It is based on political equality between two communities, two zones. Forget the word federation.” I will certainly evaluate this, but Sıla the chairperson also explained how we will forget the ‘federation’: “First of all, it is impossible not to have two zones at this point. Their place is in the south, ours is in the north. There will be two communities. Both communities exist there. There will be political equality. That means they will govern that state together. There will be effective participation and rotating presidency. This is what we understand by political equality. This is what we are describing. A joint administration.”
Could the Aydınlık mindset, which views the Cyprus issue as a ‘national cause’ based on a national conspiracy, sees those who want a solution as ‘supporters of the Greek Cypriots’, and never gives up on the rhetoric of the ‘motherland’, have ‘poisoned’ and distorted the words of the CTP chairperson?
The addressee of these words will, of course, respond. However, it must now be clearly understood that there is a powerful group within the CTP that does not view the ‘federal solution’ as ‘the Layla, for whom one would die’. [Editor’s note: reference to Layla in ‘Layla and Majnun’, an old story of Arab origin about the 7th-century Arabian poet Qays ibn al-Mulawwah and his lover Layla bint Mahdi]
It would not be wrong to say that the greatest source of inspiration for this group is the former chairperson, who is now the President.
This attitude has continued throughout his term as the chairperson, during the last election period, and even after he took office. Instead of a ‘federal solution,” the President uses terms such as political equality and comprehensive solution.
However, it is now clear that this unfortunate legacy has corrupted and distorted the CTP’s DNA.
When Tufan Erhürman, the candidate of the ‘federalist’ party in the October elections, who never defended the federation and spoke ambiguously, won the election with 63% of the vote, playing the role of the ‘reasonable and inclusive man’, the party he left behind, while dreaming of sole power on the wings of this tremendous vote potential, will also be forced to ‘transform’ in political terms.
This is a brief summary of chairperson Sıla’s interview with Aydınlık.
CTP continues to tell supporters of a solution that it seeks a federal solution, while presenting Turkey and the new voter profile with something bizarre that resembles a federal model in form but is like soup in substance, containing a sauce of sovereignty and embellished with references to two states.
This is called hypocrisy, in short.
This is the bitter legacy that Erhürman discarded by saying, “I am no longer the chairperson of CTP,” less than half an hour after his election was confirmed.
Of course, I say bitter, but it is a stark reality that there are those who do not see this as bitter at all, and who will line up the stones on the road to power as they say, “CTP is now marching towards power.”
Indeed, after that moment, the purge that began within CTP entered a new phase with the removal of two important figures (Şahali and Akansoy). Yet, this is only the beginning.
The purge of Erkut Şahali, the most important figure of the 19th October election and the favorite candidate until 15 days before the convention, is a direct message. Although the new chairperson said, “We can continue as it is, if he wants to” on the night of the convention, Şahali, who was shockingly removed from the General Secretariat, is heartbroken. However, his big mistake, just like Asım Akansoy, was not taking a stance on candidacy when necessary, not showing leadership, and not stepping out of his comfort zone. As a result, two of the party’s most vocal advocates for a federal solution have been neutralized in this way.
Another federalist whose heart was broken is Fikri Toros.
During Erhürman’s term as the chairperson of CTP , Toros facilitated all his external contacts, acted as his interpreter, and was one of the architects of the famous four-point plan on the Cyprus issue. After the election, most people, including Toros himself, expected him to be appointed as Special Representative/Negotiator. However, Mehmet Dana was placed in that seat with a ‘half-baked and completely undefined job description’. Fikri Toros was deeply hurt by this, and everyone knows it. The positions of MYK membership and Secretary of Foreign Affairs serve no purpose other than to appease him.
Mehmet Dana is currently busy making the external contacts that Erhürman should normally be making. Erhürman, on the other hand, is busy announcing these contacts to us on social media with the skill of a reporter… Oh, and breaking acceptance records!
Of course, federalists within the party are not limited to these three names. When the time comes, they too will be purged and neutralized; it’s only a matter of time. Certain sacrifices will be made on the road to power!
In short, Sıla Usar’s interview with Aydınlık describes the path CTP will take as a new path that says a lot but actually says nothing, steeped in populism, stuck in limbo, never getting into conflict with Turkey, and embracing everyone that comes in their sight—like well-behaved kids.
Of course, I look at the issue through the lens of the mother of all problems, the Cyprus problem. I see CTP as the locomotive of the federal solution, the biggest organization that is aimed towards a solution.
However, let alone looking positively at a political organization that cannot utter the words, ‘a federal solution’, I see this as a tragedy.
On the other hand, I am not a member of the CTP; I am an outsider, speaking.
Yet, being an outsider does not mean I am blind to a party that claims to be federalist. Besides, there is a tradition that comes from my family.
I may be acting emotionally when it comes to Sıla Usar. After all, I was the young man who waved at her father every night as he passed by our house on the same street on his way to his home.
However, whatever the case, I can never accept his daughter calling the federation ‘poisonous,’ engaging in such cheap hypocrisy. I will not accept it.
Will CTP accept it? I don’t know.
I do know one thing, though: the fact that I am experiencing deep sadness and despair on this flight to Zurich, as I write these words.
Because the real poison is the lust for power. Moreover, this lust is for a power that is ‘powerless’…
This article was originally published on 20.02.2026
