Erdogan ally calls on Turkish Cypriots to join Turkey after vote

ANKARA (Reuters) -Turkish nationalist leader Devlet Bahceli said the breakaway Turkish Cypriot state should hold a parliamentary vote to join Turkey, two days after Turkish Cypriots elected a candidate in favour of restarting talks with Greek Cypriots.

Bahceli, a key ally of President Tayyip Erdogan whose remarks have at times foreshadowed government policy, on Tuesday dismissed calls for a federal solution on the ethnically split island and said "Cyprus is Turkish and the homeland of Turks".

The landslide victory of centre-left politician Tufan Erhurman as the next Turkish Cypriot president has offered hope in breaking an eight-year impasse in peace talks on the divided island of Cyprus, which has an internationally recognised Greek Cypriot government. He has pledged to restart talks with Greek Cypriots.

Erdogan congratulated the new leader following Sunday's election, but Bahceli's comments highlight the nationalist bloc's push for closer political and territorial alignment with Ankara.

"The TRNC (Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus) parliament must take a decision to join the Republic of Turkey," Bahceli told his parliamentary group on Tuesday, referring to the breakaway state, which is only recognised by Turkey.

"The fate of Turkish Cypriots cannot be represented through this level of participation," he said of Sunday's vote. "There is no validity or future for federation proposals. Cyprus is our national cause and there is absolutely no turning back from this just cause."

Erdogan and Bahceli, while not of the same political party, have been in a governing alliance since 2018.

Cyprus was split in a Turkish invasion in 1974 after a brief Greek-inspired coup, and relations between ethnic Greek and Turkish Cypriots have been strained since peace talks collapsed in 2017.

(Reporting by Ece Toksabay; Editing by Daren Butler and Muvija M)

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