This week in North Cyprus > 21-28 March 2005
London Mayor remains defiant
The London Mayor Ken Livingstone is continuing to stick to his guns over his ban on North Cyprus Holiday adverts on the british capitals buses and tube trains.
Pressure is mounting from TRNC supporters for the decsision to be reversed. Bülent Osman president of a new London based Turkish Cypriot pressure group called "Embargoed" questioned Mr Livingstone during a council for London meeting. Mr Osman asked Mr Livingstone if the ban was going to continue. The controversial mayor replied "As long as the occupation of North Turkey continues." Mr Osman asked if he meant North Cyprus and he replied "Yes".
Mr Osman went on to say that it is very sad for the Turkish Cypriots living in London, that Mr Livingstone does not really know what he is talking about.
Website poll suspended amid claims of vote rigging.
A poll on the London 'Evening Standards' website was stopped last week amid concerns over vote rigging. The poll was asking whether the ban on advertising for holidays in North Cyprus was right or wrong. On Wednesday 63 per cent of voters were saying the ban was wrong, but over the following 36 hours London apparently changed its mind. A London-based lobbyist for the TRNC said the site was suddenly thrust into the No 1 poll spot after a massive surge of voting almost doubled the number of people taking part. The vote changed to 76 per cent saying yes the ban was correct. On Friday afternoon the websites monitors temporarily removed the poll. The lobbyist for the TRNC commented "You don't have to be very clever to see what has happened here. The Greek Cypriot lobby has woken up to the fact they were losing the popularity war and decided to hijack the poll".
Top official flees to the South
An arrest warrant was issued against the Presidents office administrative chief Tansel Çagis. He is wanted in connection with the ongoing investigation into £125,000 unaccounted for in the presidents expense account.
Greek Cypriot police are reportedly looking for Mr Çagis, whose whereabouts are unknown since crossing the border on March 23rd. A total of 15 presidential staff have been banned from leaving the country while investigations continue into the suspected fraud. Government auditors found cheques issued to previous expense fund recipients or their spouses totalling £125,000. Mr Çagis' lawyer Mentes Aziz said his client was not evading legal proceedings. There had been no restrictions on his travell, when he left the TRNC and would return after his holiday.
Special Interest Tourism on the Increase.
North Cyprus is enjoying popularity as a holiday destination for those seeking special interest breaks. Holiday destinations around the world are having to approach these types of holiday as tourism perspectives change. TRNC Minister of Tourism Dervis Deniz has said that Northern cyprus is in a fortunate position and will be able to benefit from these changes. According to the tourism ministry there are a great deal of tourists already attracted to North Cyprus due its natural enviroment. Holiday makers are already participating in trekking and cycling breaks.
In a recent statement Mr Deniz commented that "Tourists from different countries are flooding to the island in these days of spring in order to see the rare plants, take walks in the fresh air and try the natural biking tracks."
Government tells foreign property owners to Relax.
In an interview published in the Cyprus Today newspaper, Interior Minister Özkan Murat assured foreign property buyers they "should relax and know that know harm will come to them". The comments came after recent Greek Cypriot legal and propaganda campaigns.
During the interview Mr Murat spoke on a wide range of subjects including the governments plans to speed up the procedure for granting building permits and permission for foreigners to buy property. One of the planned measures is to grant the department more staff to help release the back log of permissions. Other improvements are being considered in Technology and co-ordination. The minister is currently sending between 15 and 20 applications a week to the council of ministers but hopes this number will soon rise to 40-50.
Mr Murat said the construction industry was very important to the TRNC economy, and stated that it was the main contributor to growth and also aided other sectors including quarries, suppliers of construction materials, lawyers and architects. The sector has to be protected and incentives must be provided.
The weather forecast for 04.04.2005 to 08.04.2005
After the weekend's rain and drop in temperature, the weather will begin to improve as the week continues. Most days will be lightly cloudy with temperatures at the beginning of the week will be around 17 - 19 °C, increasing to 22 - 24 °C by the end of the week.
Last week's temperatures
Town/City |
Minimum |
Maximum |
Lefkosa |
7.2C |
25.5C |
Ercan |
4.1C |
25.1C |
Gazi Magusa |
5.5C |
21.7C |
Girne |
10.5C |
22.0C |
Güzelyurt |
3.4C |
28.0C |
This week's exchange rate
STG £ |
2.52 YTL |
USD $ |
1.34 YTL |
EURO € |
1.74 YTL |
CYP £ |
2.96 YTL |
Resources: Cyprus Today
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