Turkish Cypriots hope peace talks go on whoever wins vote

Many voters hope efforts to reunify Cyprus will carry on whoever wins today's presidential election in the Turkish-held north, despite "pro-settlement" leader Mehmet Ali Talat trailing in the polls.

"I will vote for Talat, but all Turkish Cypriots should insist on the need for peace talks and opening up to the world," Zihni Kalmaz said outside his shoe shop on Nicosia's Lokmaci street, known as Ledra to Greek Cypriots.

Kalmaz, a former member of the Turkish Cypriot militia TMT, lived through the bloody years that preceded Turkey's invasion and the partition of the island in 1974.

Several peace initiatives have since been discussed, and flopped.

"I've seen everything and we have suffered a lot. But in spite of that I believe in a reunification that enables our community to become integrated with the rest of the world," said the 65-year-old Turkish Cypriot.

Ledra, or Lokmaci, street is the main shopping artery in the capital's walled Old City and came to represent the torn history of Cyprus over the past half century.

Prior to its symbolic reopening in April 2008, the street was sealed off after intercommunal violence erupted in 1963, splitting Nicosia, which is today the world's last divided capital.

That was a full 11 years before the Turkish army's occupation of northern Cyprus in response to an Athens-engineered Greek Cypriot coup aimed at uniting the island with Greece.

Today, Turkish Cypriots have a choice of two main candidates: Talat, seeking a second five-year term, and his nationalist rival Dervis Eroglu, who is wary of the latest UN-led reunification talks launched in 2008.

"The actual policy won't change, because the Turks want the talks to continue," said Mustafa Yuksekbas, 43, at his jewellery shop on Lokmaci street.

This view is echoed by analysts, who say Ankara's writ will hold sway regardless of the election results, partly explaining the lack of enthusiasm for the ballot in this breakaway statelet that is recognised only by Turkey.

Eroglu and Talat have nevertheless been busy campaigning, and they held their last meetings in Nicosia last Friday evening only a few hundred metres apart.

Talat, 10 percentage points behind in the opinion polls, rammed home his message to thousands of supporters that opening up northern Cyprus to the world and to Europe involves pursuing the path of reconciliation.

Eroglu insisted he would not sabotage the negotiations, a pledge which has failed to convince all voters.

"I am sure Eroglu will. I am voting for him because he will defend our best interests" in the negotiations, said Mehmet, 70. "The Turks will never bow to the Greeks."