Top diplomat to run for 2020 Turkish Cypriot presidency

By Busra Nur Bilgic Cakmak and Ali Murat Alhas

ANKARA (AA) - Kudret Ozersay, the deputy prime minister and foreign minister of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), announced Thursday that he will run for 2020 presidential race.

Ozersay said on Facebook that he will run as an independent candidate for the elections slated for April.

"With my education on diplomacy and international relations, years-long experience on the negotiation table representing Turkish Cypriots and two-year-experience as deputy prime minister and foreign minister, I believe that I can accomplish this mission, protect rights and interests of Turkish Cypriots and carry [them] forward," Ozersay said.

Ozersay, also the leader of the People's Party (HP), said he is stepping down from his party as he will run for the presidency as an independent candidate.

In 1974, following a coup aiming at annexation of Cyprus by Greece, Ankara had to intervene as a guarantor power. In 1983, the TRNC was founded.

The decades since have seen several attempts to resolve the Cyprus dispute, all ending in failure. The latest, held with the participation of the guarantor countries -- Turkey, Greece, and the U.K. -- came to an end without any progress in 2017 in Switzerland.