President Ersin Tatar was met by a hostile group of unionists when he landed at Ercan Airport last night, Yeniduzen reported.
Members of the Cyprus Turkish Public Officials Union (KTAMS) gathered at Ercan to protest about the President’s visit to Gaziantep; one of several he has made recently to Turkey.
He was accused of abandoning the country while it was “on fire”.
Recently there have been a spate of political problems, including parliament’s repeated inability to convene because of a lack of a quorum, leading to the resignation of the minority coalition government led by Prime Minister Ersan Saner. Saner himself had to resign because of his involvement in a sex video scandal. Latterly, there was panic buying of fuel and bottled gas which was in short supply.
Leader of KTAMS Güven Bengihan said, “Your visits abroad have now become a laughing stock“.
“The situation of the minimum wage is obvious. Pots do not boil at home in the kitchens. Mr. President, there was neither the prime minister nor an official when you were not here. While you were not here, there was neither bottled gas nor gasoline in our country. While you were eating kebabs in Antep, people in this country were thinking about how to survive until the end of the month. Your visits abroad have now become a laughing stock”.
President Tatar who held a press conference at the airport, said that he would continue to accept invitations to visit Turkey.
Tatar emphasized that the work he carried out during his visits to Turkey was for the benefit of the country and the economy of the country, and condemned the criticism that he “had gone on a tour“.
He said that these criticisms would not deflect him from his purpose. Tatar said that his visits encouraged the flow of students and tourists and investment in North Cyprus.
Tatar reminded his critics that the President of the Chamber of Commerce had accompanied him on this visit adding that, “I would be happy to see the representatives of the economic organization in my delegation on my future visits“.
