This week in history
THIS week in history last year, two mayors demanded immediate action to upgrade the heavily congested road between Alsancak and Karşıyaka by converting it into a dual carriageway, threatening that protesters would block the existing coastal route for up to two days if their demand was not met. The civic leaders of Alsancak and Lapta said their areas were being neglected while new highways were built elsewhere and that they were joining forces in the face of “traffic hell” which, they said, left rushhour commuters taking more than an hour to travel a mere 10km between Lapta and Girne.
Also this week in 2017, a British decision meaning that Pegasus Airlines passengers must leave their aircraft in Turkey for fresh security screening was designed to protect them from “a genuine terrorist threat,” a UK government minister told Turkish Cypriot activists. Then UK Transport Secretary Chris Grayling told the Association of Turkish Cypriots Abroad (ATCA) that the new measure on transit passengers between Ercan airport and Britain would stay — even as business leaders in the TRNC met British High Commissioner Matthew Kidd to try to find a way round it.
This week in 2013, music at a Karşıyaka fundraising event for an expat cancer sufferer was halted when police swooped in a crackdown on illegal entertainers and loud noise. Officials confirmed that they were actively carrying out checks on venues. Performers caught without a work permit could face deportation and bars without a music licence could be fined more than 7,000TL.
This week in 2009, a leading doctor slammed healthcare provision in the TRNC as being comparable to that of poor African nations. Alper Baydar, former chairman of the Doctors’ Union, said the TRNC government was not spending enough on the health service. His comments came after issues with X-ray departments at state hospitals emerged in Güzelyurt, Girne and Lefkoşa.
This week in 1998, a “sensational” newspaper report was blamed for many Britons on the island telephoning the High Commission to ask: “Should we pack our bags?” The reasons behind the sometimes frantic inquiries was a story in Britain’s SundayTimes headlined “RAF to airlift 250,000 if Cyprus war erupts”.
On this very day, June 2, 1953, Queen Elizabeth II was crowned at a ceremony in London’s Westminster Abbey in front of more than 8,000 guests that included prime ministers and heads of state from around the Commonwealth.
On June 5, 1967, Israeli forces launched a pre-emptive attack on Egypt and destroyed nearly 400 Egypt-based military aircraft. After a period of relative peace in the Middle East, in 1965, Palestinian guerrilla groups, supported by Egypt and Syria, had started a series of attacks on the Israeli border.