Dincyurek withdraws resignation, UBP publishes final candidate list

Turkish Cypriot ‘health minister’ Hakan Dincyurek on Tuesday withdrew the resignation he had tendered on Sunday, declaring that despite previously announcing the opposite, he will, in fact, stand as a candidate for his party, the UBP, in December’s Turkish Cypriot legislative elections. “Following the discussions, mutual evaluations, and consultations we have held, I would like to share with the public my decisions regarding the roadmap I intend to follow moving forward,” he began. He added that “just as we have done until now, we will continue on our path, upholding the values in which we believe in and bearing the responsibility entrusted to us by those who have placed their faith in us”. “Let’s meet at the ballot box on December 6, for the sake of our country, our people, and our party,” he said.

The announcement comes with the deadline for political parties to submit their lists of candidates for December’s elections having passed, with the UBP having published its final list late on Tuesday evening. ‘Parliament speaker’ Ziya Ozturkler had earlier announced that he will be a candidate at December’s election and that “I have no intention of withdrawing”, stressing that “I will continue to fight for the UBP until the very end”, after unconfirmed reports had suggested that party leader and ‘prime minister’ Unal Ustel had been urging him to withdraw from the election. Ozturkler, Dincyurek both secure places on UBP’s final list Ozturkler and Dincyurek both appeared on the list, though Ozturkler found himself at the bottom of that list in his home constituency of Morphou. He had been among the 17 people who appealed the result of Saturday’s internal party primary elections, prompting Ustel to remark that that result “it is binding whether we get the desired result or…