President of Cyprus: Turkey threatens me and demands I refrain from running in the elections

During an interview on tv2020 on Saturday, he said in response to a question about receiving a Turkish hint not to run, "Even this they did, and the Turkish ambassador was invited to clarify this issue, and this message, but Ankara prevented him from coming."

For its part, the Turkish embassy in Lishtova denied this story, and denied the news, and said in a statement, “The statement that Mr. Akinihy made about a threatening message from Turkey, in order not to run for a new term, is totally false. Securely, and protecting the lives and livelihoods of every Turkish Cypriot. "

The embassy added, "You have tried to make Turkey a guarantor of success in the elections many times before, so your insistence on this disturbing behavior of the Turkish Republic is evidence of bad intentions."

On Sunday, the Turkish Cypriots began choosing a leader tasked with overcoming deep political divisions with the Greek Cypriots, in order to pave the way for a "deal" that ends 46 years of ethnic division in Cyprus and calms tensions over marine energy reserves.

The elections are being held while relations are witnessing severe tension between Turkey and Greece over the exploitation of oil and gas in the eastern Mediterranean.

The Turkish authorities show their support for the national candidate, Ersin Tatar, "prime minister" of North Cyprus, which has a population of more than 300 thousand people.

A second round is scheduled for October 18 if none of the 11 candidates gets the 50 percent of the votes needed to win Sunday's ballot.

J.O