Simon Aynedjian for Gibrahayer e-magazine - Turkish Prime Minister Racip Tayyip Erdogan showed his neo-Ottoman persona once again, this time towards angry Turkish Cypriots, who had gathered in tens of thousands last week protesting against the Ankara-inspired economic package for the north, aimed at imposing economic measures which have resulted in rising prices of basic goods, termination of the cost of living allowance system which compensated workers for price increase, taxation of pensions and businesses closing down. Erdogan felt Turkish Cypriots waving flags of the Republic of Cyprus had insulted Turkey (we wonder if the Penal Code 301 is applicable in occupied Cyprus) and that the occupied regime had shown leniency towards protesters who waved placards demanding the Turkish army to leave. A placard read “Ayshe your holidays are over, go home” (Ayshe being the military parola of the Turkish invasion to Cyprus). Other banners carried by demonstrators read "Ankara, take your hands off us", "Ankara, we do not want your money, your package and your servants" and "This motherland is ours, we will run it". Erdogan blew his top and urged Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu to prosecute protestors holding banners and flags and went on to say that Turkey had shed blood for northern Cyprus and had strategic interests on the island. “They are telling Turkey to get out and leave. Who do you think you are? I have martyrs, I have war veterans, and we spilled our blood there. We are there strategically... Turkish Cypriots have no right to hold such a demonstration.” Responding to the accusation, leader of the left-wing New Cyprus Party (YKP) Murat Kanatli issued a press release saying, “If efforts by Cypriots to reunite their common homeland are viewed as a crime, then this gives us a clear indication of his nationalist character.” The party also renewed its call for Ankara to “remove your hand from our collars”, thereby repeating one of the slogans deemed insulting by Erdogan. Having made it clear – this time to Turkish Cypriots as well – that mamma Turkey was not in Cyprus for their protection or their interests, but rather for her own strategic and geopolitical interests, the next wave of Turkish Cypriot demonstrations – to be organised very soon - are expected to put to a new test the relationship between “master” and “servant”. Last week, Turkish Cypriot newspapers reported that the authorities in the enclave had prayed for rain so as to keep people in their homes and away from the demonstration. The weather was mostly cloudy during the day of the demonstration, but rain came only late in the afternoon.

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