Erdoğan’s ally in Northern Cyprus has suffered a crushing defeat in the presidential election – a clear sign that Turkish Cypriots no longer support Ankara’s regional policies, at a time when those policies are also being challenged by the growing interest of the United States and other powers in the Eastern Mediterranean.
In November 2020, the Turkish government has started to spread a narrative of return to democracy, rule of law and citizens' rights. The main reason for this new apparent U-turn is the degradation of the Turkish economy and, in effect, the diminishing popularity of the regime.
Conspiracy theories in a nationalistic key are being used for decades to justify the primacy of the Turkish state, and lately, of the Erdoğan regime.