On 6 October 2020, Ersin Tatar, the Prime Minister of Northern Cyprus, announced that the beach area of Varosha will reopen to the public in 8 October 2020. The Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said that Turkey fully supports the decision. The move came ahead of the 2020 Northern Cypriot presidential election, in which Tatar is a candidate. Deputy Prime Minister Kudret Özersay, who had worked on the reopening previously, said that this was not a full reopening of the area, that this was just a unilateral election stunt by Tatar. His People's Party withdrew from the Tatar cabinet, leading to the collapse of the Turkish Cypriot government. The EU’s diplomatic chief condemned the plan and described it as a “serious violation” of the U.N. ceasefire agreement. In addition, he asked Turkey to stop this activity. The U.N. Secretary-General expressed concern over Turkey’s decision.