Row erupts as Muratağa martyrs are laid to rest
‘Our objective is to have a TRNC which can stand on its own [two] feet’
A ROW broke out between President Ersin Tatar and an opposition MP this week over the decision not to hold a state funeral for five people who were massacred by Greek Cypriot gunmen in 1974.
The remains of the five people, all from the same family, were buried at the Muratağa-Sandallar Martyrs’ Cemetery last Saturday in a private funeral.
The victims were Emine Rüstem Akansoy, 36, and her children Sezin, 15, Mustafa, 13, Erbay, 12, and Sibel, 8.
They were among scores of civilians, almost all women and children, who were slaughtered
TURKISH Vice President Fuat Oktay staged a one-day visit to the TRNC on Thursday when he visited the village of Güvercinlik in the Mesaoria Plain, where the third phase of an industrial estate will be built.
Mr Oktay, who was accompanied by Prime Minister Hamza Ersan Saner, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Energy Erhan Arıklı, Finance Minister Dursun Oğuz, and Turkish Ambassador to Lefkoşa Ali Murat Başçeri, was welcomed by hundreds of villagers.
Mr Oktay, making a statement, said: “Our objective is to have a TRNC which can stand on its own [two] feet . . . creating employment and attracting foreign investment.”
He said this would be possible through “public-private sector cooperation”, adding that development will not come about from “employment in the public sector”.
The planned third phase construction of the industrial estate will be financed by Turkey, under the 2021 Financial and Economic Cooperation Protocol signed between Turkey and the TRNC earlier this year.
A presentation of the “Great Industrial Estate of the TRNC” was made which was also attended by Gazimağusa Mayor İsmail Arter and Department
of Industry head Mustafa Yeşil.
Mr Oktay explained that they “wanted to reflect the Republic of Turkey on to the TRNC in terms of their regional and worldwide success in industrial estates”.
“We want the best and most modern industrial estate,” he said.
“Development will come with a system that provides incentives and the cooperation of public-private sectors.”
Stating that he wanted to make the TRNC a centre of attention, Mr Oktay said the industrial zone project should come to fruition “as soon as possible”, adding that the “appropriate law has to be amended”.
“The governance here [in the TRNC] is critical,” he said, adding that there is a need to make it easy for businesspeople concerning Customs.
Mr Saner said industrial estates “greatly contribute to the TRNC economy” and that he believes the TRNC can reach an “important point in being able to find markets through an understanding of competition”.
Referring to the gala night of the Bir Zamanlar Kıbrıs (Once Upon a Time in Cyprus) Turkish-produced TV series, Mr Saner said: “It will show how and why the Cyprus issue started and how we have arrived at the present. The Cyprus issue started not in 1974, but in the 1950s.”