The president of the Turkish Cypriots, supported by Erdogan, lost the election. The winner wants to restart talks with the Greek Cypriots
Tufan Erhuman won the presidential election in Northern Cyprus on Sunday 19 October 2025. Credit: Ali Ruhluel / AFP / Profimedia
Nearly 63% of voters who turned out for presidential elections in northern Cyprus, a breakaway territory whose claim to statehood is recognized only by Turkey, voted for former prime minister Tufan Erhurman over incumbent president Ersin Tatar, according to Reuters and AFP.
Center-left politician Turfan Erhuman won 62.8 percent of the vote, winning on a platform of reviving talks with Greek Cypriots about the island's future. The current leader, the nationalist Ersin Tatar, who enjoyed the support of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, had a score of 35.8%.
The island of Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when a Turkish invasion, launched following a coup in Nicosia with the support of Greece's military junta at the time, eventually led to the creation of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.
The internationally recognized Republic of Cyprus is a member of the European Union and controls the south of the island, where the majority are Greek Cypriots.
If Tatar followed the Turkish line on a two-state solution in Cyprus, Erhuman indicated that he was in favor of a federal state that would include both sides of the island, promising to look into a possible solution in this regard.
Cypriot President and Greek Cypriot leader Nikos Christodoulides congratulated Erhuman, saying he wanted peace talks to resume.
The last major round of peace talks failed in Switzerland in 2017.
Leaders of the two camps met in July at UN headquarters in New York for talks that were hailed as “constructive” by UN chief Antonio Guterres.
The president of Northern Cyprus is mandated to represent the Turkish Cypriot community in negotiations with the Greek Cypriots, who represent Cyprus in the European Union and have a say in Turkey's aspirations to join the bloc.
