PM to present review of Evkaf land and property to Parliament

A REVIEW of the way land and property owned by the Evkaf religious foundation is administered will be presented to Parliament, Prime Minister Tufan Erhürman told MPs on Tuesday. He made the pledge after Erhan Arıklı, leader of the Rebirth Party (YDP), claimed Evkaf-owned properties had become “tools for those in power to be utilised in the interests of their supporters”.

Mr Arıklı was referring to the case of Girne’s iconic Dome Hotel, which he said had been “given to its employees on the grounds that it was making a loss”.

He said this lease “contract” was soon going to “expire soon” and claimed Evkaf “does not want to take back” the hotel and its employees “do not want to give it back”.

In response, the Premier said he shared Mr Arıklı’s concerns, but it was “not right” to focus solely on the Dome Hotel.

He did reveal, however, that he had arranged a meeting with the head of Evkaf and the manager of the Dome to discuss “all the arguments and counter-arguments”.

Dr Erhürman said the government was “carrying out work” that covered all of Evkaf’s assets, but said that it would be improper to go into the details of the study before it was concluded and shared with Parliament.

He said it was “out of the question” for him to “exert pressure” on Evkaf but stressed that he had a “responsibility” because regulation of the body — established in 1571 — fell under his remit. He said he did not want it to be “worn down” over the issue of the Dome Hotel but stressed that “whatever is necessary will be done” if any wrongdoing was found to have occurred. Dr Erhürman said a number of Evkaf-owned properties had been leased “sometimes with a tender, sometimes without” and in some cases at a rate that was “well below their value”.