One year after the passing of my sweet Margaret Sheard in the TRNC

By Chris Elliott….

It’s one year since the passing of my soul mate and lovely partner Margaret Sheard who is now with the angels and it’s been the most difficult time in my life. Firstly she wanted me to be the executor of her will and this has resulted in me having to run here there and everywhere trying to cope with all the legal issues which was so difficult and protracted due to the language issues and there is still much more to do and without the help and support of my Advocate I would have lost the plot long ago.

Margaret passed away just a few months before my new residency application was due and as she was my residency sponsor my world was collapsing with uncertainty and my Avocat was giving advice as best they could but the TRNC government it seems was changing directions with talks of amnesties and then changed course by firming up the procedures with heavy penalties for late applications and preventing an individual from traveling from the TRNC. 

My Avocat tried their best to help and in January of this year, they asked if I wanted them to start my re-application process and my answer was yes please, and then I was advised my police appointment was in February. 

Prior to the police appointment, I visited my Advocate who gave me a folder of documents to present and when I visited the police on that fateful day I was greeted with a smile by a policeman who processed my documents and with another smile sent me on my way without me being fined for late application. So there is justice in this world thank God. 

Shortly after this I went online and paid for my Health insurance and then waited and waited and then decided to take action and went to the Ministry of Interior and made a high-level contact and was then seen by a very nice lady who retrieved my file and noted Margaret’s passing then made a couple of phone calls and said your application is approved and you can pay online or if you have a credit card I will complete the process for you and I then left her with a big smile of thanks and with my residency certificate plus payment receipt. 

Now I am no longer in the residency application jail! 

So back to the reality of life which has been very difficult as Margaret and I had for 11 years been running together the popular CyprusScene website, e-newspaper, podcasts, etc promoting the TRNC to the world which was very time-consuming. We also helped so many people when asked and  I have been able to keep this all going with a little bit of help but in the past few months the heat has made life very hard and I am slowing down so hopefully I will get the momentum and expansion going again soon.  

As I mentioned we had been running our operation for 11 years with the various costs funded by my pensions and on one occasion Margaret and I met a minister who said to earn money you must have a work permit and start a company with a Turkish Cypriot partner. Nice thought but that partner would have a 51% shareholding which could lead to loss of our control. 

In recent times I started asking followers to consider donating through my Buy me a Coffee campaign which some do and this is paid into my UK bank account and will now offset future production costs. 

Now Margaret died a heartbroken lady as she came to the TRNC to live out her retirement by buying a property and spending all her money here only to discover that gaining citizenship was not going to happen as so many others have found and there is an ongoing ex-pat people drain now from the TRNC for this and other reasons.

I will continue to do my part in fighting for justice and recognition of the TRNC by the world through our publishing and do expect to be recognised by the TRNC as a citizen and become part of its family as that is how the system should work!