President Tatar: "Erhürman’s Political Success Is Zero

Defense of TRNC Sovereignty 

In its 28 August 2025 article titled “Cumhurbaşkanı Tatar: Erhürman’ın siyasi başarısı sıfır,” Kıbrıs Gazetesi cites President Tatar declaring that “Erhürman’ın siyasi başarısı sıfır” (“Erhürman’s political success is zero”). With militant clarity, the article conveys Tatar’s assertion that Erhürman “offers nothing but to degrade the TRNC into a minority institution bound to the Greeks.”

Our article fully embraces and reinforces President Tatar’s stance: it contests the faux-narratives of reunification via a defunct federal model, repudiates the status quo’s injustice, and reasserts the TRNC’s sovereign legitimacy, anchored in contemporary political realities and supported by credible documentation.

It further highlights that this legitimacy is not merely rhetorical but grounded in international engagements, legal realities, and the collective memory of a people who have endured decades of isolation. By doing so, it challenges attempts to diminish the TRNC’s political identity and insists that genuine peace on the island can only be achieved by respecting the sovereign equality of the Turkish Cypriot people. This reinforces the notion that Turkish Cypriots are not passive observers in their fate but active shapers of their political destiny. It underlines that repeated sacrifices have been made in the past under the guise of reconciliation, yet no tangible benefits were delivered. Consequently, the call for sovereign equality is not simply political rhetoric but an essential demand rooted in historical experience and international justice.

President Tatar’s Central Argument

Kıbrıs Gazetesi's Core Assertion

The original article quotes outspoken criticism from President Tatar:

“Erhürman’ın siyasi başarısı sıfır.”

Tatar characterises Erhürman as a politician whose ambitions amount to false promises and a retrograde attempt to reduce the TRNC’s sovereignty. He says Erhürman is “selling false hopes as if decades of injustice against Turkish Cypriots could be erased overnight” and that believing agreement could be reached “just by drinking coffee” with the Greek Cypriot side is sheer folly (en.wikipedia.org).

TCE Perspective: 

• Affirming the TRNC’s legitimacy: President Tatar’s criticisms reaffirm that the Turkish Cypriot people are not a “minority community,” but “a sovereign, free people,” whose state, TRNC is real and legitimate (kktcb.org, dailysabah.com).

• Defending sovereignty, not subordination: Tatar delivered a powerful rebuttal against the external narrative that erroneously reduces Turkish Cypriot political agency to that of a “minority” awaiting Greek mercy. His position aligns with recognised legal and geopolitical rights and is increasingly echoed in international discourse.

• Two-state solution as modern justice: Tatar emphasizes that the TRNC’s future lies not in federal illusions but in sovereign equality and self-determination (en.wikipedia.org).

• International solidarity as recognition: The TRNC's observer membership in the Organization of Turkic States (OTS), gained under Tatar’s leadership, signifies a substantive step toward international acceptance (dailysabah.com, kktcb.org)

Earlier this year TRT World sat down with President of Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus Ersin Tatar to discuss the Geneva talks and the latest edition of Teknofest.

Strengthening the Argument

1. Daily Sabah – Coalition Endorsement

The ruling coalition of TRNC—UBP, DP, and YDP, formally endorsed President Tatar on 2 June 2025, lauding his “firm stance on a two-state solution” that reflects the will of the Turkish Cypriot people (en.wikipedia.org).

2. Daily Sabah – TRNC Sovereignty Recognition

In February 2024, Tatar asserted:

“TRNC may not be currently recognized, but its existence is a reality… We either continue as the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, or we surrender our rights and fade out of existence.” President Tatar

This unflinching proclamation highlights the existential stakes at play (dailysabah.com).

3. TRNC Official Statement – International Support and Legal Context

On 22 May 2025, President Tatar stated:

“The Greek Cypriot leadership has been unilaterally using the title of ‘Republic of Cyprus’… presenting this usurped order as a legitimate representation… systematically denying [Turkish Cypriots] their equal rights.” President Tatar

 He called the TRNC "an honourable member of the Turkic World and the bearer of regional stability... Our path is open; our stance is clear." (kktcb.org).

4. TRNC Presidency – Urgent Call for Justice

On 16 August 2025, Tatar condemned the Greek Cypriot leadership’s “unjust and unlawful policy of isolation” against Turkish Cypriots as “a silent crime against humanity,” urging the international community to deliver the “justice and equality” the TRNC deserves (kktcb.org).

TCE Conclusion

President Tatar’s declaration that “Erhürman’s political success is zero” stands not just as a rhetorical flourish but as a defiant affirmation of Turkish Cypriot sovereignty. This critique must be read and amplified in the activist sense, not as personal invective, but as frontline resistance to the undermining of a people’s right to self-determination.

By reaffirming the TRNC's legitimacy, rejecting federation-based marginalisation, and embracing a two-state vision grounded in equality, President Tatar is not merely campaigning, he is fortifying the very pillars of justice and recognition for Turkish Cypriots.