 leader Devlet Bahçeli.){kind=link}
Turkish Cypriot President Tufan Erhürman will pay his first official visit abroad to Turkey on November 13 at the invitation of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, weeks after his election victory sparked criticism from far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli.
The visit was announced Monday by Turkey’s Presidential Communications Director Burhanettin Duran on X, who said in a written statement that Erhürman will have talks with Erdoğan in Ankara.
“President of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus [KKTC], Mr. Tufan Erhürman, will pay his first foreign visit to our country on November 13, 2025, upon the invitation of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan,” Duran said.
“During the meetings, current developments regarding the Cyprus issue will be evaluated, and Turkey–KKTC relations will be discussed in all their dimensions.”
Erhürman was elected president of the KKTC on October 19 with approximately 63 percent of the vote, officially taking office on October 24. He became the first president in the country’s history to win with more than 60 percent support.
Following Erhürman’s election, Bahçeli, an ally of Erdoğan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), criticized the vote, alleging low turnout and suggesting that northern Cyprus should be annexed to Turkey.
Bahçeli had said the roughly 65 percent voter turnout was too low to represent the “fate of the Turkish Cypriots,” claiming that the KKTC parliament should “reject federation” and declare the country Turkey’s “82nd province.”
Erdoğan, however, explicitly rejected that framing.
“Our relations with northern Cyprus will continue just as they have under our government,” he said. “It was a legitimate election, and we congratulated the winner as believers in democracy.”
He also invited Erhürman for a visit to Ankara.
Cyprus has been split since 1974, when Turkey launched a military intervention following a coup by Greek nationalists seeking union with Greece. The north declared independence in 1983 as the KKTC, which only Turkey recognizes. The internationally recognized Republic of Cyprus joined the European Union in 2004 and remains one of the most vocal opponents of Turkey’s access to EU initiatives.
Erhürman, leader of the Republican Turkish Party (CTP), is a constitutional law professor who favors reunifying Cyprus under a federal framework in line with United Nations parameters. His victory over nationalist former President Ersin Tatar, who had promoted a “two-state solution” and was backed by Ankara, was widely seen as a political turning point on the divided island.