NICOSIA, July 17 (AFP) - The dovish Turkish Cypriot administration of leftist premier Mehmet Ali Talat scraped through a vote of no confidence in parliament Saturday called by the right-wing nationalist opposition.
The 50 MPs were split straight down the middle, and parliamentary rules require that a majority support a non-confidence motion to bring down the government.
The National Unity Party had called the vote in an attempt to force early elections after the defection of three MPs from the governing coalition, which left it with no majority in parliament.
Talat, who heads the Republican Turkish Party, won plaudits from the international community in April by leading Turkish Cypriots to vote overwhelmingly in favour of a UN reunification plan for the divided island over the opposition of veteran nationalist leader Rauf Denktash.
Unexpectedly it was the Greek Cypriots who rejected the blueprint in a simultaneous vote ahead of the island's EU entry on May 1.
Washington has since said it regards Talat as his community's leader in place of Denktash. Both the United States and the European Union have vowed to work with the premier to end the Turkish Cypriots' economic isolation.
Their breakaway state was declared in 1983, nine years after Turkey invaded the island's northern third following a Greek Cypriot coup seeking union with Greece. But it is still recognized only by Ankara, complicating trade with the outside world.