The leader of Turkey’s ultra Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and patron of the Grey Wolves, Devlet Bahçeli, reacted angrily to the result of the Turkish Cypriot elections. For a second time he called on the Turkish Cypriot “parliament” to convene immediately and vote to annex northern Cyprus to Turkey.
Harmancı’s reply
Turkish Cypriot mayor of occupied Nicosia Mehmet Harmancı responded in a Facebook post that Bahçeli’s real concern is not federation or patriotism, but the eradication of mafia structures, contract killers and money-laundering networks in the north.
“We will clean this country of the mafia system,” he wrote, framing the pushback as a law-and-order imperative within the community.
Bahçeli’s nationalist line
After an internal MHP meeting to assess the vote, Bahçeli declared that “Cyprus is Turkish, the homeland of Turks,” dismissing any federal settlement as having “no validity or future.” Citing Düzce as Turkey’s 81st province, he said making the north the 82nd province is now “a matter of life and death.”
Although Bahçeli’s party is a governing partner of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, no senior figure from Erdoğan’s party has condemned the Turkish Cypriot result. Erdoğan’s first comment on election night was measured, congratulating Tufan Erhürman and saying Turkey will continue to defend the “sovereign rights and interests” of the breakaway state alongside Turkish Cypriots.
Why it matters
Bahçeli’s rhetoric sets up a potential political confrontation with figures in the Turkish Cypriot community, testing relations between the new leadership in the north and Ankara. Harmancı’s counter-message centres the fight against organised crime as the priority, implicitly arguing that community reform, not annexation slogans, should drive the agenda.