NICOSIA, Oct 21 (AFP) - Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash on Thursday appointed Dervis Eroglu, head of the centre-right National Unity Party (UBP), to set up a new government in breakaway northern Cyprus.
"I am giving the mandate to UBP leader Dervis Eroglu. I hope he can set up the government in 15 days," the time allocated by law to the premier-designate to cobble together a government, Denktash told reporters in the Turkish-held sector of the divided capital, Nicosia.
The appointment came a day after premier Mehmet Ali Talat handed in his resignation following months of political deadlock that paralysed his two-party coalition, which came to power in December.
Talat's government was made up of his Republican Turkish Party (CTP) and the Democrat Party (DP) of Serdar Denktash, Rauf Denktash's son. It had been unable to overcome an impasse since losing its slender majority in the house in April, shortly after a referendum on a UN peace plan aimed at unifying divided Cyprus.
"Considering the trouble the outgoing government had, it is time to move from a parliamentary system to a presidential system," the senior Denktash said.
"If Eroglu succeeds in setting up a government, I would like it to do a study on such a prospect."
With 19 seats, the UBP is the biggest party in the 50-seat parliament of the self-declared Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC).
"I will start contacts with other parties at once with good will," said Eroglu, who preceded Talat as premier. "I hope to form a government which has more than 26 MPs."
Eroglu is expected first to ask Serdar Denktash, whose party has five seats, to be a partner in government. Denktash has so far refused to say how he would react to any such an offer, but has said it would be duly evaluated by his party.
Even if Eroglu manages to lure the DP into a coalition, he would still need support from another party to obtain a parliamentary majority.
Talat is expected to remain as caretaker premier until a new government is formed.
Rauf Denktash has the authority to call early elections if efforts to set up a new government fail.
The political deadlock in the north comes amid a diplomatic campaign by Turkish Cypriots to ease international sanctions against the TRNC following the overwhelming support they gave to the failed UN plan to reunify Cyprus.
Cyprus has been split along ethnic lines since 1974 when Turkey occupied its northern third in response to an Athens-engineered Greek Cypriot coup aimed at uniting the island with Greece.
The UN plan, which was voted on both sides of the long-divided island in April, was killed off by a strong "no" in the south.
The failure of the reunification bid ensured that the Greek Cypriots alone joined the European Union on May 1. The TRNC, declared in 1983 and recognised only by Turkey, was left out in the cold.