Zeytinlik residents are protesting against plans to build a 512 bed students’ residence in the area.
Eight student residence projects are waiting for building permission from the town planning department, say members of the Protection of Zeytinlik Initiative.
Zeytinklik (Templos) is said to have been named after the Knights Templar. During the Lusignan period, the village was said to be where the knights were housed.
According to Turkish daily BirGun, residents are afraid that the new building and influx of students would affect the demography of the village and also have negative environmental consequences.
Head of the Protection of Zeytinlik Templos Initiative, lawyer Gurcan Bayramoglu said it was suggested that if there was a need for student residences, they should be built near or around the current education facilities.
Kyrenia local council head Nidai Gungordu is also opposed to this type of construction. A recent bylaw for Kyrenia limits the height of new buildings and ensures that space between buildings remains at a certain distance.
The new ruling was brought in until the Kyrenia Master Plan which will designate a so-called “White Area”, which includes Zeytinlik. From now on new buildings may not be constructed over seven storeys.
President Akinci has also weighed in by saying that it would be a “massacre“to build in the village, Kibris Postasi reports.
Cyprus Weekly, BirGun, Kibris Postasi
