Voting Under Isolation: The Case of The Güzelyurt Community of Northern Cyprus

In Morphou, Güzelyurt region, where the negative effects of the Cyprus problem are severely felt by the local population, there exists an atypical voting model which is formed around certain regional realities. This study aims to describe this model by explaining how the voting preferences of the fragile Güzelyurt community are formed, bearing in mind that this community does not own a common past and lives in an isolated region whose future is uncertain due to the complications of the Cyprus problem. In such a non-natural community, political references reflect the effects of passed or potential distresses, and as a result, “policy” and “quality of public services” gain only a secondary importance compared to “politics”, “strive for power”, and “political ideologies”.