Group demands Lefke problems addressed
A NEW dual carriageway between Güzelyurt and Lefke has remained unfinished for eight years, according to protesters.
A group called the Lefke Civil Society Organisations
Platform held a demonstration and march recently demanding that the road be completed and that other problems in the Lefke district are addressed.
Protesters briefly scuffled with police when they were prevented from marching from the Gaziveren-Doğancı junction to the Doğancı roundabout.
However, the demonstrators unfurled their banners and were allowed to march down the road with a police escort.
In a speech, platform president Teoman Oktay said that the march was held because they had “tried to solve the
region’s existing problems through dialogue but couldn’t see a positive step forward”.
Mr Oktay pointed out that as Lefke is an official government district, it should be “considered as such”, adding that it should have its own police department.
“Lefke district’s problems have not been resolved and the requirements for Lefke to become a district have not been fulfilled,” he said. “If necessary, we will continue our protests in Lefkoşa.”
Cyprus Turkish Pensioners Association Lefke Branch president Şakir Öksüz said that they have been protesting the unfinished GüzelyurtLefke
dual carriageway “for about eight years”.
He added that “none of the requirements” have been fulfilled after Lefke became the TRNC’s sixth administrative district in December 2016.
Mr Öksüz talked about the “problems caused by the lack of a police department and civil defence department”.
He also claimed that while there should be 24 doctors at Cengiz Topel Hospital there are currently only six, and that although an additional building plan was made for the hospital, no steps have been taken and the existing service is “insufficient” for the region.