Monday, 4 July 2022
Questions were raised in parliament once again as to why Abdullah Korkmazhan Secretary-General of the Left Movement was refused entry by Turkey and deported under the so-called ‘G-82 code’, which translates as “activities against national security“. Yeniduzen reported.
To date, Turkey has refused entry to six Turkish Cypriots under the same code.
It has become apparent that the TRNC government does not intend to take any steps regarding the issue, the newspaper writes.
The leader of the YDP minor coalition party Erhan Arıklı confirmed that the government would not take any action regarding the entry bans, saying “We don’t need to ask Turkey for this reason, we know what it is”.
In parliament, following persistent questioning by the opposition regarding the issue, it was understood that the current government would not take any steps regarding the “banned Turkish Cypriots“. Erhan Arıklı, Chairman of the YDP, one of the minority coalition partners, confirmed that no steps would be taken by saying, “We don’t need to ask Turkey for the reason, we know what it is”.
Yeniduzen asked the current and former Ministers of Foreign Affairs, what would be the solution to this affair. Former ministers Serdar Denktaş and Özdil Nami said that they would attempt to find out the reason for the bans.
The current foreign minister Tahsin Ertuğruloğlu suggested that, “If anyone has such a concern, they should go and ask the Turkish Embassy in Nicosia”.
Meanwhile, former economy minister Serdar Denktaş said, “There has never been such an event in history…”.
Özdil Nami said, “If such an event had happened in our time, we would definitely make an attempt, at least we would learn who is on this list and what are the reasons for being on the list“.
Foreign Minister Tahsin Ertuğruloğlu, said, “There is no list reported to us, we have been explaining it since the first incident, that the Turkish Republic does not have to report such a list“. He added that he could not see the sense of criticising the TRNC government about this event. He went on to accuse the opposition of using it as an opportunity to make a political statement.
Yeniduzen writes that it contacted the Turkish Embassy in Nicosia and was told that there was no such list.