‘Illegal’ work at stone quarry grinds to a halt
WORK at a stone quarry was this week halted due to the risk it posed to ancient ruins.
As part of road construction, an old quarry in the region known as Ayfodi Mountain in Büyükkonuk reportedly became operational again.
However, the expansion of the quarry’s “working area” put ruins just above in “danger of being destroyed”, causing a “strong reaction from the people of the region”, reports said.
Büyükkonuk Mayor Ahmet Sennaroğlu took action because of this, announcing that the “unauthorised expansion” was stopped and the area “sealed off” by the municipality.
“Expansion started without obtaining the opinion and permission
of the municipality,” he said.
“We explained to the company in question that it is wrong to expand to the north while there is room to grow and expand towards the east and west of the region and that the work should be stopped. Despite this, the company continued to work.”
Mr Sennaroğlu said he then invoked the Municipalities Law to cordon off the area and halt activity there, adding that the matter would be discussed with ministers.
Environment activist Yakup Genç said that “very serious historical, ecological and cultural heritage damage” was done in the area.
“They will say the excuse for this destruction is that ‘we are doing this to build a road’ but this does not take the place of a logical explanation,” he said.
“If they want to build a road, they should get the material for it from the existing stone quarries, they should not cause any new destruction.”
Mr Genç explained that there is a “holy church and a cave settlement around it” on Ayfodi Mountain and that there is also “another cave to the north of the mountain used by pigeons for thousands of years”.
Mr Genç also noted that there is a “temple from the shamanic period” and the remains of the walls surrounding agricultural areas next to the cave and that these ruins are of “great value for Cyprus”.
Indicating that the ruins in question were built with megalithic stones, Mr Genç said that when historical records are examined, Ayfodi Mountain has a “social content” connected to Othello Castle in Gazimağusa.
Pointing out that the small stone quarry on Ayfodi Mountain is on the lower slope of the church, Mr Genç said: “Trucks and bulldozers passed 200 metres under the cave settlement and dynamite was being detonated.”
He claimed that there was a spring on Ayfodi that “kept Büyükkonuk alive for years” but the water bed where this spring was located was “destroyed by dynamite explosions”.