The Presidency of Northern Cyprus, which Erdoğan described as a "slum."
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Ahead of his two-day visit to Cyprus to mark the 47th anniversary of Turkey's military intervention on the island, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said he had "good news" for Northern Cyprus.
After his statement, rumors spread that Azerbaijan and a couple of other countries would recognize the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), which is only recognized by Turkey.
However, it turned out that the "good news" was a new presidential complex, a new parliament and a "nation's garden," Erdoğan announced on July 19 at a Northern Cyprus parliamentary session boycotted by the country's opposition parties.
"As you know, the TRNC Presidency has neither a proper presidential complex ... or a parliament building. We don't think this suits the TRNC," Erdoğan said, describing the country's current presidential building as "a slum belonging to the Brits."
"I'm saying we should get rid of these places as soon as possible. Let's have a parliamentary building that is magnificent in every aspect," he remarked.
When he became the president in 2014, Erdoğan ditched the Çankaya Mansion, which had been Turkey's presidential residence since the foundation of the republic, for the then newly built Presidential Complex, a palace with 1,000 rooms.
While the opposition criticizes Erdoğan over the costs and luxury of the complex, he defends himself, saying, "You cannot cut back on your reputation."
Erdoğan cited the same reason for his plans for Cyprus. "This is the expression of being a state. Hopefully, people will see that there is a state ... belonging to the Turks of Cyprus when we implement this project."
Erdoğan's statements were on the headlines of almost every daily newspaper in Northern Cyprus the next day. But many journalists were puzzled as Erdoğan's much anticipated "good news" was something that he had already mentioned multiple times.
"Violence, oppression and splendor"
"The mountain gave birth to a mouse," Havadis newspaper said on its front page, using an idiom to describe unmet expectations. "Erdoğan's good news was neither recognition nor natural gas," it said.
Hasan Yakıcı, a columnist for Yeni Düzen newspaper, wrote, "Erdoğan's good news definitely failed to meet the raised expectations. Therefore, it has become a subject of humor and ridicule."
However, he said, what was a subject of humor for Cypriots also reflected the mindset of Turkey's government. "After all, there is a mind of ruling power that evaluates being a state with oppression and violence, as well as with construction and that measures it with ostentation and splendor."
Mustafa Akıncı, the previous president of Northern Cyprus, also criticized Erdoğan's statement in a Facebook post, saying that the reputation of a state is not measured by the splendor of its buildings but by "democracy, freedoms, human rights, law, the respect for justice and the welfare of its citizens." (RT/VK)
