TRNC News Today 21^st August 2015

Sennaroğlu met with Eroğlu in Ankara

Minister of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Food – Önder Sennaroğlu met with Turkey’s Minister of Forestry and Water Affairs Veysel Eroğlu during his visit to Ankara. Stressing in the meeting that the TRNC has critical water shortage and how can water be brought to TRNC from Turkey has been discussed for years, Sennaroğlu noted that with the broad vision of President of Republic of Turkey Erdoğan, water is going to reach the island on October 28th.

Sennaroğlu told “We are going to strive with determination so that even a single drop of that water can be managed and used without any waste and so that it can be used for the development of the TRNC.” Sennaroğlu also gave his condolences to the authorities of state and government of Turkey and public of Turkey for the recent acts of terrorism. Sennaroğlu said, “Turkey is a powerful state, it can overcome these acts of terrorism.” Minister of Forestry and Water Affairs Veysel Eroğlu told that he is pleased to host Sennaroğlu and his committee. Reminding that the last pipe was installed as part of the water supply project on 7th August, Sennaroğlu said, “We witnessed it with the esteemed minister, and we felt pride in that.”

Repeating that their Ministry has huge investments related to Cyprus and that the line that will supply 75 million cubic meters of water has been designed by their Ministry and with the addition of the main distribution system in Cyprus, the project has cost 1.6 billion Turkish Lira. Eroğlu noted that there have been investments of lagoons and water-distribution pipelines before.

Eroğlu emphasized that now they are doing work for the forestation and building picnic areas and he added that such a construction of a picnic area has been continuing in the area of Geçitköy Dam.

Excavations for Noratlas not been wanted

It is reported that the excavations to unearth the Noratlas, a Greek military transport aircraft, which was shot down by the Greek Cypriot National Guard by mistake during the Cyprus Peace Operation in 1974, had not been wanted in the past. Greek Cypriot daily Phileleftheros published a letter to the then Greek Cypriot leader written by Xenophon Kallis, who was an adviser at the Greek Cypriot Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2003 and now is the Head of the Division of Humanitarian Affairs of the Foreign Ministry and is also the coordinator of the implementation of a project, launched recently to locate the plane at the Lakatamia military cemetery in South Cyprus.

According to the news report, the letter was written to the family of a Late Greek commando to inform that they were given the remains of another person. The newspaper reported that the letter had emphasized that there is no need to conduct excavations to unearth the remains of neither the aforementioned commando nor the others. The reason for this is said to be issues, such as lack of blood samples from their families, conflicting views on whether there are corpses in the plane, the common conception by families that everyone in the plane died, giving priority to the missing persons instead of commandos (who were identified as dead), expenses and the mistakes committed coming to light.

Evren: “Mausoleum project for Founding President to be put out to tender”

The Minister of Public Works, Environment and Culture, Kutlu Evren stated that works for the mausoleum project for the Founding President Rauf Raif Denktaş has started and it will be put out to tender towards the end of the year. Minister Evren received the delegation that will set up the project. Stating that they are very happy and excited about the commencement of the project, Evren stated that the outcome bears heavy spiritual responsibility and demanded that the team running the project finish the project as soon as possible.

Stating that a worthy and beautiful design has been produced for the Founding President, Minister Evren emphasized that the community has a great expectation for the project and they are very sensitive about it. Reminding that a museum will accompany the mausoleum and that the project will be put out to tender towards the end of the year, Evren stated that the committee established for the project at the Ministry is following the works closely.

Anastasiades and Akıncı to launch Glafkos Clerides exhibition

Personal belongings of former Greek Cypriot Leader Glafkos Clerides will be exhibited at the Centre for Visual Arts & Research of Costas and Rita Severis Foundation, as his daughter, Kaiti Clerides, announced. Kaiti Clerides also said she is particularly happy that the two leaders, Anastasiades and Mustafa Akıncı, will launch the exhibition.

Adding that “My father’s belongings would stand as a reminder of his vision to reunify the island,” Katie Clerides, the daughter of the former leader, said.Greek Cypriot Leader Anastasiades and President Mustafa Akıncı will launch the exhibition on Monday, September 7, at 19:30.

Electronic ID card implementation begins in Girne

The electronic ID card implementation has begun in Girne today for those who want to change or renovate their worn Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) ID cards.

Minister of the Interior and Labour Aziz Gurpinar visited the Girne district office with Ministry bureaucrats, made observations and introduced the e-ID card implementation.

Girne District Governor Mehmet Envergil in his statement said that the service was launched in Lefkoşa recently and has started to spread to districts. E-identity is a part of the e-government project and it is a way to give more efficient, faster and healthy service to citizens.

Envergil stated that there is no obligation to change ID cards; however, worn ones needed to be replaced. Envergil said that there are some misunderstandings about this issue; it is not possible to catch up everyone’s e-ID request, it is better to wait before switching the e-identities unless they are not worn or new.

Interior and Labour Minister Aziz Gurpinar noted that applications for all districts previously made from Lefkoşa (center) and it was causing congestion and density. Gürpınar stated that e-ID applications have started in Girne, after that it will start in Mağusa, İskele and Güzelyurt so the citizens can easily access to e- ID and the intensity in the centre will decrease.

Indicating that the most important part of the e-government project is the e-ID project, Gürpınar said some individual and institutional information, such as deed, social security, bank and leasing, can be accessed easily with the activation of the other elements of the e- government project.

Underlining that the e-ID was highly secured, Gürpınar said it would provide great convenience to both citizens and state.

The citizens can receive the e-ID cards after making application to Girne District Governor by presenting necessary documents and deposit within 2-3 workdays. A short message (SMS) will be sent to the citizen’s mobile phone when the e-ID card is ready. In case of emergency, the e-ID card can be delivered on the same day or one day after, from the headquarters in Lefkoşa.