9-day Bayram holiday,

THIS year’s Kurban Bayram (Eid al-Adha) holiday will be nine days, Prime Minister Ersan Saner announced on Wednesday.

The four-day Muslim festival marking the culmination of the annual pilgrimage to Mecca and commemorating the sacrifice of Abraham starts on Tuesday.

However, the government has declared Monday an “administrative holiday” so that the religious holiday can be linked with the weekends before and after.

While government offices will be closed on Monday, banks are expected to be open until noon. Mr Saner also called on the public to comply with Covid-19 precautions.

“Considering that the pandemic has not yet passed, our expectation and wish from our citizens is that they spend their holidays in health and peace by complying with the necessary measures,” he said.

Talip Atalay, the head of the TRNC’S Religious Affairs Department, said that people who have been vaccinated against Covid19 or who have had the disease between 30 and 180 days ago can pray inside mosques without the need for a PCR or antigen test.

Unvaccinated people who wish to pray inside must have a negative PCR or antigen test result that is not more than 72 hours old, or can pray in the grounds of a mosque without a test.

Meanwhile the head of the Cyprus Turkish Livestock Producers and Breeders Association, Mustafa Naimoğulları, has said that sales of sacrificial animals are down by around 50 per cent compared to last year.

According to Mr Naimoğulları, the cost of a sacrificial calf is 26-27TL per kilo, a lamb is 42-43 TL per kilo, and sheep, which are less preferred, cost 27-28TL per kilo.

He added that those wishing to sacrifice an animal must also pay slaughter fees of around 150TL for sheep and goats, or 250 to 300TL for cattle.

Mr Naimoğulları noted that sales of sacrificial animals “have decreased by half” this year and said that both the “breeders

and the people are struggling with economic difficulties in our country”.

“People’s purchasing power has decreased, while the price of fuel has increased four times in two months and everything is expensive,” he said.

“Despite animal breeders’ expenses having increased with large hikes on feed prices, these hikes have not been reflected in the animal prices.”