Turkish Cypriots Go to the Polls. Will It Matter?

Turkish Cypriots Go to the Polls. Will It Matter?

What a potentially unfair election in a definitely unrecognized country means for the Middle East and Europe.

A member of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) looks at a map of the buffer zone that separates the internationally-recognised Republic of Cyprus and the breakaway Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, recognised only by Ankara, in the divided capital Nicosia, on April 26, 2021. October 8, 2025, 9:21 AM Comment icon View Comments ( )

On Oct. 19, citizens of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, the unrecognized state under Turkey’s patronage in the northern third of the island of Cyprus, will be heading to the polls to elect a president. They face a choice between two competing visions for the