ANKARA, Aug 27 (AFP) - Rauf Denktash, leader of the breakaway Turkish Republic of Cyprus (TRNC), will not stand for re-election next April, the veteran leader announced on Friday.
"It's my final decision" the veteran leader, who has been president since the foundation of the statelet in 1983, said. "It's not right that the same person always holds the same post. Change is a good thing."
Denktash, 80, was a leading figure in Cypriot politics in the 1960s and has been in charge of the republic, recognised only by Turkey, since the Turkish invasion of the north of the island in 1974.
Unlike the Turkish government and Prime Minister Mehmet Ali Talat, Denktash was vehemently opposed to a United Nations reunification plan, which was put to the vote last April in both sides of the island, with the Greeks voting against and the Turks voting massively in favour.
His opposition saw him lose the support of Ankara and the United States, which were both in favour of the plan, and let it be known that they no longer considered him to be a representative leader of the Turkish Cypriot community.
Denktash bitterly said he could no longer carry on as president when "things do not go as I want them to".