Turk Cypriot opposition claims victory in key poll

Turkish Cypriot supporters of a UN plan to reunify the divided island of Cyprus claimed victory yesterday after more than half of votes had been counted in a poll which could seal Turkey's European Union ambitions.

But the pro-settlement parties and a rival bloc backing veteran leader Rauf Denktash could end up with an equal number of seats in the 50-seat parliament due to an electoral system which sets a five per cent threshold for entering the assembly.

As counting passed the halfway stage, the main opposition Republican Turkish Party (CTP) and two other pro-reunification parties had a total of 51 per cent, while the two main parties backing Denktash had around 45 per cent.

"We don't have the exact results yet, but it will be an (anti-Denktash) coalition," Mehmet Ali Talat, leader of the pro-EU Republican Turkish Party (CTP), told Reuters.

Mr Talat's party was seen winning 19 seats, one more than the main pro-Denktash party.

The poll, officially recognised only by Ankara, is widely seen as a referendum on Mr Denktash's rejection of a UN plan to reunify Greek and Turkish Cypriots living divided on the island for almost three decades.

"It's... a referendum between those who want a settlement and those who don't," said prominent businessman Fikri Toros.

The result could determine whether Turkish Cypriots join the EU next year in a federation with the Greek-speaking south, or hunker down under continued international sanctions.

The EU has sent a clear message to Turkey that its chances of starting full accession talks with Brussels will be seriously impeded if Ankara fails to push the Turkish Cypriots to a deal.

Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan told reporters: "It is too early to guess the outcome of the election... but everyone must accept the final result."

The east Mediterranean island has been split along ethnic lines since 1974, when Turkey invaded after a Greek Cypriot coup backed by the junta then ruling Greece.

Talks on a UN blueprint envisaging a loose federal state with broad autonomy for the two communities collapsed in March.

Small bands of rival supporters gathered in front of the Supreme Election Council headquarters yesterday evening as the results flashed out from a giant screen on the Turkish Cypriot side of Nicosia, Europe's last divided city.

Officials said 85 per cent of the enclave's 141,000 voters took part in yesterday's poll, in which seven parties took part.

Mr Denktash and his allies say a single Cypriot state would erode Turkish Cypriot rights, while many settlers from Turkey fear they will be thrown out of Cyprus if it is reunited.