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PRIO Senior Research Consultant Mete Hatay talked to French Le Petit Journal on the recent Turkish Cypriot election. Hatay interprets this result as more than just an electoral win, it is “a people’s quiet declaration of ‘enough’.” He notes that the vote signals Turkish Cypriots’ desire to steer their own course, and to re-engage with the broader process of negotiation rather than remain isolated. He also cautions that any progress will require coordination, especially with Turkey as the patron state and with the Republic of Cyprus, the path forward is delicate, but the window for change may be open.

PRIO Senior Research Consultant Mete Hatay talked to Turkish Daily Evrensel and noted that the far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) has long used northern Cyprus as an instrument in its nationalist rhetoric and domestic politics, but this time the sensitivity is not merely ideological. He pointed out that recent MHP inked economic ventures such as casinos, supermarket universities, and construction companies have rapidly expanded across the island. These circles, he said, are now seeking to protect their newly acquired economic positions and influence by becoming more directly involved in political affairs.

Turkish Cypriots made history on October 19. In his analysis in Diken, PRIO Cyprus Centre, Mete Hatay reads this result as more than an election as a people’s quiet declaration of “enough.” In the weeks before the vote, politicians, pop stars, footballers and even preachers were sent from Turkey to “influence” the north but in the end, it was the people who spoke. And they spoke with one simple, powerful sentence: “We are against no one. But we want to govern ourselves.”

Mete Hatay from the PRIO Cyprus Centre spoke to the Financial Times about the leadership election held on 19 October in the northern part of Cyprus. “It’s a new beginning for us and a message against any kind of intervention and impositions coming from Turkey.”

Senior Research Advisor Mete Hatay of the PRIO Cyprus Centre spoke to Le Monde about the elections to be held in northern Cyprus tomorrow.

In his column “A Silent Act of Maturity” published in Diken, an independent Turkish online daily Mete Hatay, Senior Researcher at the PRIO Cyprus Centre, reflects on the hierarchical language and crisis of representation that define relations between Turkey and the Turkish Cypriots. Hatay interprets CHP leader Özgür Özel’s recent statement on the elections in Northern Cyprus -particularly his use of the word “respect”- as not merely diplomatic, but ontological: a recognition of the Turkish Cypriots’ own agency. The article distinguishes between being represented and being seen, arguing that Turkey’s “mother-child” and now “brotherhood” metaphors continue to reproduce inequality and infantilization. For Hatay, maturity means learning to listen, not to rule. What Cyprus needs most today, he concludes, is precisely this — that Turkey finally learns to hear, not just to speak.

PRIO Director Nina Græger was interviewed by newspaper The Guardian about the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize.

PRIO Director Nina Græger was interviewed by the French newspaper Le Monde about the Nobel Peace Prize 2025.

PRIO Director Nina Græger was interviewed by Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten about the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize.

PRIO Director Nina Græger was interviewed by British newspaper Daily Mail about the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize.