Columnist Mehmet Levent has accused Environment Minister Hamit Hakirci of taking “false steps” adding that one of them is by saying that bringing piped water from Turkey into the TRNC means “freedom”.
Levent, writing in Turkish Cypriot daily ‘Afrika’ writes: “However, experts believe that this water will not be freedom for the Turkish Cypriots, but on the contrary, it will make them more dependent on Turkey”.
He also notes that the “actually interesting” aspect of this issue that “causes confusion” is that the news coming from Turkey is not good. Referring to the delay in the schedule of bringing water from Turkey to North Cyprus, he goes on and writes, inter alia, the following:
“There are people who say that the [falling] water levels in Anatolia are creating a red alert. The Meke Lake in Konya has dropped by 99%! Turkey’s biggest fresh water lake, Beysehir Lake has gone down 15 meters! The level of water in many big dams has fallen to dangerous dimensions. Do all these not show that a drought problem exists in Turkey?
“Turkey’s Forests’ and Water Affairs’ Minister Veysel Eroglu had also stated this: ‘Drought exists, but with God’s help, there is no interruption in water supply’. Bringing millions of cubic meters of water with undersea pipelines to the TRNC, in spite of the drought which Turkey is facing, will surely also happen again with God’s help!” Levent concluded.
