Prime Minister Huseyin Ozgurgun, has been putting pressure on the Interior Minister Kutlu Evren to sign the amendment of the city planning law for Kyrenia district. Citing backroom information, Turkish Cypriot daily Afrika writes that Ozgurgun has threatened to remove Evren, if he does not sign.
It has been suggested that Evren is in a difficult situation, because the municipalities of Lapta, Alsancak, Catalkoy and Esentepe are pressuring the minister not to sign and having agreed on a planned development. The decree is rumoured to be the reason for a potential cabinet reshuffle.
Also reporting on the issue, Turkish Cypriot daily Yeni Duzen’s columnist Tayfun Cagra writes that as it was proved by the recent briefing on the Kyrenia district planning law, the reason for making amendments is to legitimise the number of storeys in a hotel being built on the foundations of the old Zeyko olive mill in Karaoglanoglu. According to the columnist the “entire government” has been working to “legalise the illegal storeys” of this hotel.
The target of the change in the law, he notes, is not only the increase of the floor numbers in the buildings, but also a percentage increase of the plot on which the buildings are being constructed.
Yeni Duzen has also published statements by the chairman of the Turkish Cypriot Building Contractors Union, Cafer Gurcafer, who said that the two extra floors of the hotel constructed by Turkish Kaya Group in the area should be demolished, according to an interim order issued by the court.
Afrika, Yeni Duzen
