Erkut Sahali elected north opposition party CTP’s secretary-general

Erkut Sahali was on Tuesday night elected as secretary-general of the north’s largest opposition party the CTP, unseating Asim Akansoy.

At the first meeting of the party’s new congress following its party conference on April 6, Sahali and Sila Usar Incirli both challenged Akansoy for the role, with Sahali winning out.

Sahali is 51 years old and has served in three different ‘ministerial’ posts in the north – twice as ‘agriculture minister’ and once as ‘public works minister’.

The party congress’ vote brings to an end Akansoy’s second term as the party’s secretary-general. He had been in post since 2022, having previously held the role between 2011 and 2013.

The party’s secretary-general is effectively its second-in-command behind its leader, Tufan Erhurman, who was re-elected to the role at the April 6 conference as the only candidate for the role.

There, Erhurman was also announced as the party’s candidate for the forthcoming Turkish Cypriot leadership elections, which are set to take place in October.