Turkish Cypriots voted today in a parliamentary election that could end their international isolation and determine the future of divided Cyprus and Turkey's European Union aspirations.
The poll, officially recognised only by Ankara, is widely seen as a referendum on the veteran Turkish Cypriot leader's hardline rejection of a U.N. plan to reunify Greek and Turkish Cypriots living divided on the island for three decades.
"This is not going to be a race between parties... It's going to be a referendum between those who want a settlement and those who don't," said prominent businessman Fikri Toros.
A steady trickle of the enclave's 141,000 voters filed into polling stations from early morning to stamp large white ballot papers bearing the symbols of the seven parties running.
The result could determine whether Turkish Cypriots join the EU next year as part of a federation -- or hunker down in the hope of an eventual two-state solution.
The EU has sent a clear message to Turkey that its chances of starting full accession talks with Brussels will be seriously damaged if Ankara fails to push the Turkish Cypriots to a deal.
The east Mediterranean island has been split along ethnic lines since 1974, when Turkey invaded after a Greek Cypriot coup backed by the junta then ruling Greece.