Tax office staff demand safety after arson attack on vehicle
TAX Department staff staged a five-hour strike to demand improved safety after a car belonging to the son of the unit’s head was torched in an arson attack.
The vehicle, parked outside the Kalkanlı home of departmental director Özdemir Kalkanlı, was badly damaged after being doused in flammable liquid and set on fire during the early hours of Thursday last week.
Tax Department Workers’ Union chairman Ediz Uzun said in a statement: “We are subjected to verbal attacks during [tax] inspections and while in the office which have become out of control.
“Because not enough attention has been paid to these incidents, which are insulting and humiliating, their perpetra- tors have become emboldened, resulting in the serious incident of an arson attack.
“This is the first such incident in the history of the TRNC and a huge test for the country’s security. It will show whether the TRNC is a country with laws or whether it is sliding towards mafia control.
“Such attacks are against the state. If the culprits are not found, the next targets will be bureaucrats and ministers.”
Prime Minister Tufan Erhürman “strongly condemned” the “sabotage” in a social media statement last Saturday, saying Mr Kalkanl was “not alone” and vowing: “We will not allow . . . [creation of] an atmosphere of fear and intimidation.”