Protests overshadow ‘palace’ construction
Opponents of new Presidential Palace and Parliament complex form human chain
THE commencement of construction work on the new Presidential Palace and Parliament complex in Metehan, Lefkoşa, was met by fierce and large-scale protests on Tuesday.
Protesters formed a human chain and even at one point made it inside the site, and chanted loudly in opposition to the complex.
The protest was organised by a swathe of trade unions representing a cross section of society, and was supported by the main opposition Republican Turkish Party (CTP) and other left-of centre-political parties.
The protests featured a number of speeches, including from Tunç Adanır, the chairman of the Union of the Chambers of Cyprus Turkish Engineers and Architects (KTMMOB).
He said that the project to build a new palace had been “externally imposed” and disclosed that no application for construction had been made to the chambers which he represents.
Mr Adanır explained that a building that does not receive planning permission from the KTMMOB is “illegal”, and confirmed that he will be “making an effort to bring the government onto the right track” regarding the legality of the construction project.
Hasan Esendağlı, the chairman of the Cyprus Turkish Bar Association, also made a speech. “This construction will go down in history as a monument to shame,” he said. “It is against the law.”
He claimed that all of the relevant institutions had been “bypassed” in the forcing through of the construction project.
The protests were marred by a fracas with police when the human chain was formed outside the construction site, with a scuffle breaking out as some protesters attempted to gain access to the site.
Police tried to stop them, even engaging in physical altercations with MPs who had joined the protest, but a number of protesters did make it beyond the barbed wire fences.
The presence of demonstrators on the construction site temporarily halted work on the palace, and the protest eventually drew to an end.
Public Works and Transport Minister Erhan Arıklı gave a prickly response to the protesters via a social media post, in which he said that they are “against everything”.
He added that “some people are still opposing this project, they take action with 50 or 60 people”, before retorting “go and ask those activists, many of whom are taking home multiple salaries”.
Dr Arıklı also noted that the cost of the project is 2.82 billion TL and that “we calculated that at least 2.2 billion TL of this money will flow into the domestic market”.
In a separate social media post, Dr Arıklı also wrote that the people protesting against the construction were “a group of people against the TRNC who insult this saintly state” and alluded to them “always taking action to unroot the TRNC”.
Serdar Denktaş, son of the TRNC’s founding President Rauf Denktaş and a former minister, responded in kind to Dr Arıklı, warning him to “think of who you are talking about”.
“If I had known, I would have taken part in yesterday’s protest,” Mr Denktaş said. “What would you say [about me]? Am I taking action to unroot the TRNC?”
He added: “I am one of those who find the construction of a [new Presidential] complex unnecesary and argue that the way for the TRNC to have a strong image is not through ostentatious state buildings, but with a people with a high level of welfare whose problems have been resolved and social justice has been provided.”
Sensing that he may possibly lose an argument in which he characterises the son of this country’s founding father as someone trying to “unroot” it, Dr Arıklı somewhat walked his statements back, writing yet another social media post which read: “Dear Denktaş, I know your love for Turkey, that father’s son cannot be anti-Turkey”.
However, he somewhat stuck to his guns, adding: “As someone with the surname Denktaş, please do not take the same platform as them, or else you will make the dead turn in their graves.”