Arikli brands CTP ‘MP’ racist
The north’s transport minister Erhan Arikli branded a Turkish Cypriot ‘MP’ racist on Wednesday.
In a Facebook post, Arikli took umbrage at opposition party CTP ‘MP’ Ceyhun Birinci having asked him “who the hell are you in this country?” in ‘parliament’ on Tuesday.
Arikli in the post called him “racist Ceyhun”, inferring that Birinci had asked him the question as he had not been born in Cyprus but in the northeastern Turkish town of Ardahan, in the Kars province. He moved to Cyprus aged 13 in 1975.
“Look, Ceyhun, I am calling out you and your likes once again. You will swallow the fact we exist. We are citizens of this country with equal rights to you. We are neither more or less than you and people like you,” he said.
“We have just the same constitutional rights you do and more talent than you do to run this country. I wish that you get rid of the racism in your head as soon as possible.”
Arikli’s latest Facebook post comes amid heightened tensions between himself and the CTP, with a running argument between him and the party’s leader Tufan Erhurman having played out both in ‘parliament’ and on social media in recent days.
The argument had begun on Monday after Erhurman once again brought up the matter of a €59 million tax break given to Ercan (Tymbou) airport’s operator T&T last summer.
A back and forth ensued regarding the various issues of competency, responsibility and financing at the airport, before Erhurman described Arikli as “unserious” and Arikli called Erhurman a “showman”.
The argument continued on Facebook that evening and then returned to ‘parliament’ on Tuesday, with Erhurman clarifying his description of Arikli as “impolite”, before turning to ‘MPs’ from the UBP, the largest party in the north’s ruling coalition and saying, “you are the ones keeping impolite people like this here.”
He had also accused Arikli of attempting to drive a wedge between Turkish and Turkish Cypriot people before a wider argument ensued between CTP ‘MPs’ and Arikli and the comment was made.
Erhurman pointed out that Arikli had referred to other ‘MPs’ as “dude” in the chamber and said that it was “impolite” for Arikli to speak in this way in the chamber.
“[Arikli] should give up this behaviour, realise he is harming society, stop trying to gain political advantage, and take some responsibility,” he said.