Head of the TRNC Men’s Hairdessers Association, Nihat Ramazanoglu says that his industry is under attack and that his members are having a hard time.
Mr Ramazanoglu is clear about the main cause of the problems. He is accusing barbers from Turkey of undermining the hairdressing trade in the TRNC.
He feels that they come over without having to go through rigorous skill training and just set up shop. This proliferation of barbers means that there are many new shops opening up and that legitimate barbers are suffering as a result. He also maintains that prices have hardly risen since 2008.
His members are now having to work longer hours to compete and are finding it hard to take holidays. Mr Ramazanoglu says that because nearby Turkish barbers do not have families in the TRNC, they do not take holidays and that every time that he does, he loses customers.
He also feels that there is another problem, namely corruption; claiming that the Youth and Sports Ministry is handing out scarce barber premises to favoured applicants and he threatens to disrupt the allocation meetings unless this is stopped.
