Sener Elcil, General Secretary of the Turkish Cypriot Teachers’ Union KTOS has blamed Turkey for the delays in opening the bordering crossings at Derinya and Aplic.
“Turkey, which has been implementing delaying tactics for years with the excuse that there is no money, built a road and renewed the electrical wiring in Varosha [Maras] with money given by the EU”, Elcil alleged, adding that when the financial problem was solved, there was a delay for a few more years by saying that “there is an obstacle from the military point of view”. He also argued the following:
“After a period of time passed by with the excuse about the army guard posts and that the Greek Cypriot side was not ready, the excuse of a lack of applications by building contractors was produced. As soon as the building contractors’ problem ceased to exist, the rhetoric that we will prepare the border for crossings was used as a subterfuge. The four-party coalition government and Mr Akinci, who has been elected to find a solution, are unable even to make a statement saying ‘these gates will open on the following date’. It is understood that Ankara’s approval could not be given”.
Commenting on the issue, ‘Detay’ writes that the developments on the opening of Derinya are a reminder of the tension existing between the political and the military authorities in the TRNC when the crossing point in Ledra Street, in Nicosia was about to open. The paper recalls the excuse that the road which would be used for crossing the border violated a military zone. In the beginning a bridge was built for the people to cross above this road. This “tragi-comical measure”, as the paper describes it, was withdrawn in the end and the crossing point opened normally.
Detay
