Tacoy tells voters to choose Tatar over Erhurman because of alphabetical order

Turkish Cypriot ruling coalition party UBP ‘MP’ Hasan Tacoy on Monday urged the north’s electorate to choose incumbent Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar over his opposition-backed challenger Tufan Erhurman because of alphabetical order.

“If you place them in the alphabet, ‘ET’ comes first, ‘TE’ comes second. Therefore, we need to choose the one who comes first. Let’s do this in the simplest way,” he told Haber Kibris TV.

He later evaluated the election in a more serious manner, saying the October 19 contest would be a “photo finish”.

“If the election were to be held today, it would be won by a nose. My hope is for Ersin Tatar to win. The race will be a close race, but I see Ersin Tatar ahead,” he said.

He also expressed his support for a two-state solution to the Cyprus problem, saying that the idea of a federal solution is “over for us”, and that “speaking the same language as Turkey is vital for trust and stability”.

“The 85 million people of Turkey are behind you. If you discuss a federation and do not speak the same language as Turkey, you will not find stability and continuity. There will be division, and that will lead to distrust. Trust comes from speaking the same language,” he said.

Erhurman reacted to the more jovial part of Tacoy’s critique, pointing out that his name begins with the letter ‘E’, and that Tatar’s last name begins with the letter ‘T’.

“My last name comes before his, so of course, it makes more sense to base the vote on the first name and not the surname,” he quipped.

The Cyprus Mail contacted the CTP’s spokesman Asim Akansoy, whose forename and surname both crucially begin with the letter ‘A’, about the matter, and he laughed.