This week in history
THIS time last year, a parliamentary delegation from Zimbabwe was to visit the TRNC as part of an investigation into claims that university students from the impoverished African nation were turning to prostitution and drug dealing after being conned with bogus scholarships. According to Zimbabwean media reports, Kindness Paradza, chair of the country’s foreign affairs committee, said that he had received confirmation of the problems from a number of student recruitment agencies and students themselves.
Also this week in 2017, a Turkish Cypriot lawyer launched legal action on behalf of two Greek Cypriot clients — including a 98-year-old man — who had had to abandon properties in the fenced-off resort of Maraş in 1974, claiming that their rights had been violated. Lefkoşa-based lawyer Murat Metin Hakkı told Cyprus Today he had filed two separate cases, one at the TRNC Supreme Court to overturn a 2005 Gazimağusa District Court ruling and another at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.
This week in 2013, expats with cancer acquired a new, direct source of help. The Help Those With Cancer Association (Tulips) announced that two Englishspeaking and experienced support workers would be initial contacts once a person was diagnosed. Pam Kennedy and Jayne Matter would also undertake follow-up calls, visit patients and help with all aspects of treatment. The move enabled former expat committee members Sue Tilt and Carole King to concentrate on raising crucial funds for the association, which runs solely on donations and receives two new patients a day.
This time in 2009, Lapta Municipality admitted that its tankers could not cope with demand for water after mains supplies ran out. It had promised residents that free water would be delivered to homes but demand had far exceeded supply.
Early August in 1998 saw discos in the TRNC succumbing to the Environmental Law of the previous year by closing down. Options for people seeking weekend excitement were dwindling as a result. Sun-Set Disco in Alsancak was first to publicly declare its closure, while others were expected to follow suit.
In international news archives, on this very day, August 4, 1964, the bodies of three civil rights workers who had been missing for six weeks were found buried in a partially constructed dam near Philadelphia, Mississippi. A total of 19 men were arrested and charged but later 17 of 19 indictments were dismissed.
On August 8, 2001, Hollywood superstars Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise divorced. The final decree came just hours after Kidman and Cruise separately attended the première of their new film, The Others. The couple eventually reached an “amicable” out-of-court settlement over division of their assets.