UPDATE - Northern Cyprus' leader accepts resignation of government

UPDATES WITH REMARKS BY NORTHERN CYPRIOT PRESIDENT

By Busra Selvi Ogutcen

ANKARA (AA) – Northern Cypriot President Ersin Tatar on Wednesday accepted the resignation of the government.

According to Turkish News Agency-Cyprus (TAK), a statement was released about the government's resignation following a meeting between President Tatar and Prime Minister Faiz Sucuoglu.

Speaking after the meeting, Tatar said Sucuoglu had asked for permission Tuesday afternoon to dismiss Finance Minister Sunat Atun.

The president said he asked for time until the evening to make his decision, and the premier visited him once again on Wednesday afternoon to submit the government's resignation.

"Following consultation with the lawyers, I concluded that the resignation is one-sided and I have to implement it as the president," Tatar stated.

Sucuoglu and his Cabinet will keep their positions until a new government is formed, according to the president.

The coalition government of the National Unity Party (UBP), Rebirth Party (YDP), and Democrat Party (DP) was formed on Feb. 21 under the chairmanship of Sucuoglu, head of the UBP, and approved by Turkish Cypriot President Tatar.

Last October, Ersan Saner, then prime minister of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), submitted his resignation to the president.

Cyprus has been mired in a decades-long dispute between Greek and Turkish Cypriots, despite a series of diplomatic efforts by the UN to achieve a comprehensive settlement.

Ethnic attacks starting in the early 1960s forced Turkish Cypriots to withdraw into enclaves for their safety.

In 1974, a Greek Cypriot coup aiming at Greece's annexation led to Turkiye's military intervention as a guarantor power to protect Turkish Cypriots from persecution and violence.

The TRNC was founded in 1983. It has seen an on-and-off peace process in recent years, including a failed 2017 initiative in Switzerland under the auspices of guarantor countries Turkiye, Greece, and the UK.

The Greek Cypriot administration entered the EU in 2004, the same year Greek Cypriots thwarted the UN's Annan plan to end the decades-long dispute.

*Writing and contribution by Merve Aydogan