Man who branded opposition ‘MP’ a ‘terrorist’ handed top civil service job in north

A man who last year branded one of the north’s opposition ‘MPs’ a “terrorist” was on Thursday handed one of the north’s highest ranking civil service jobs, being announced as the new private secretary of ‘labour minister’ Oguzhan Hasipoglu.

Thirty-two-year-old bar proprietor Dervis Bayraktar made the comment during a speech he made in November last year during a protest held in support of the north’s ruling coalition amidst a weeks-long ‘parliamentary’ deadlock after the coalition and the opposition over the election of a ‘parliament speaker’.

Bayraktar was at the time the chairman of ruling coalition party the UBP’s Famagusta district youth branch, and aimed the comment at the CTP’s Dogus Derya, who had drawn his ire after throwing water at the UBP’s Ziya Ozturkler, who was the coalition’s nominee for the role of ‘parliament speaker’ and was elected to the role a week later.

Members of the UBP’s youth wing had marched to the building in the Nicosia neighbourhood of Koskluciftlik which at the time housed the Turkish Cypriot legislature, with Bayraktar saying in his speech at the building’s front gate that “as everyone can see, Derya appears to be a terrorist-like person”.

“We do not want terrorists in parliament, she must resign and leave the parliament,” he said.

Hasipoglu had addressed the demonstrators before their march began from the capital’s central Sarayonu square, saying that throwing water at Ozturkler was “unacceptable”.

The deadlock came about after the ruling coalition and the opposition could not agree over how many votes had been cast in an intra-‘parliamentary’ election for the role of ‘parliament speaker’ in October last year.

The coalition insisted that Ozturkler had won that election, receiving 26 votes in his favour and 23 against, while the opposition said that given that three of the ballot papers counted by the ruling coalition as votes in Ozturkler’s favour had more than one mark on them, they were invalid, and as such Ozturkler was not duly elected.

The water-throwing incident took place during a chaotic session in ‘parliament’, wherein Ozturkler arrived in the chamber early in the morning to attempt to secure the ‘speaker’s’ chair and then refused to leave, despite the opposition’s insistence that he has not been elected.

As tensions reached a crescendo and the UBP’s Emrah Yesilirmak held the CTP’s Erkut Sahali back from the ‘speaker’s’ chair first by his chest and then by his neck, Derya spotted an opening and reached the front of the chamber, picking up a bottle of water and throwing its contents over Ozturkler.

The ruling coalition eventually acquiesced to a fresh vote the week after, and Ozturkler was elected to the role with 27 votes in his favour and 21 votes against. He has held the post ever since.