ANKARA — Though Ankara’s favored candidate lost in Turkish Cypriot elections over the weekend, center-left Tufan Erhurman’s victory could offer diplomatic and economic gains for Turkey through the resumption of direct talks between Turkish and Greek Cypriot leaders over the status of the ethnically divided island. 

The Turkish Cypriot presidential election on Oct. 19 saw center-left leader Tufan Erhurman, head of the Republican Turkish Party (CTP), secure a decisive victory, potentially paving the way for the resumption of long-frozen direct negotiations between the island’s divided communities. The election of Erhurman — who has defended the resumption of direct talks with his Greek Cypriot counterparts — could in fact create a rare opening for Turkey to improve ties with the EU, some analysts say. His approach comes with conditions, though, including political equality for Turkish Cypriots, that will need to be addressed in order for talks to move forward.

Erhurman secured a decisive victory with 62.76% of the vote, defeating incumbent President Ersin Tatar. Tatar, a hard-liner who backed a divided island rather than a federation model, has long been viewed as Ankara’s preferred candidate due to his outspoken support for a two-state solution on the island. Addressing a crowd of Tatar’s CTP supporters in September, Erdogan said that they “must do everything in their power to win these elections.” 

Cyprus remains ethnically divided between the internationally recognized EU-member Republic of Cyprus, led by Greek Cypriots, and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), recognized only by Ankara since Turkey's 1974 military intervention, which followed a Greek-led coup aimed at unifying the island with Greece. Turkey, Greece and Britain — who governed the island until Cyprus gained independence in 1960 — remain guarantor powers under the island’s complex political arrangement. Turkish Cypriots make up more than 20% of the total population on the island.