Hours after voting ended in an “election” in the breakaway Turkish-occupied north of Cyprus, ever-present Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was quick to “crack the whip” at the man elected to represent the Turkish Cypriot community.   

“Do his ears hear what he says?” Erdoğan said during a press conference on Monday after being asked by a reporter to comment on a recent statement by Mustafa Akıncı
Akıncı, whom Hurriyet Daily News describes as a “leftist moderate” and a supporter of a peace agreement on the divided island, won a run-off poll on Sunday.

This was statement that riled the increasingly authoritarian Erdoğan: “It should be a relationship of brothers/sisters, not a relationship of a motherland and her child,” Akıncı had said.

“Even working together as brothers has its conditions. We paid a price for northern Cyprus. We gave martyrs and we continue to pay a price. For Turkey, northern Cyprus is our baby. We will continue to look at it the way a mother looks at her baby,” a condescending Erdogan emphasized.

The statement was made live during a simultaneous interview being given by Akinci, who responded:
Akıncı, whose live interview with CNN Türk television was interrupted due to Erdoğan’s press conference, fired back immediately.
“Doesn’t Turkey want to see its baby grow up? Should we always stay a baby?” he asked, rhetorically.