Economic disruption in north

 

THIRTY-FIVE trade unions have decided to go on 24-hour strike tomorrow in protest against the administration’s package of economic austerity measures.

According to Turkish Cypriot daily newspaper Havadis, tomorrow’s action may be followed by a continuous strike.

Turkish Cypriot daily newspaper Volkan wrote that the opposition Republican Turkish Party (CTP) and Social Democratic Party (SDP) are both urging on the workers to take strike action.

Recently-elected Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu has the unpopular task of cutting public spending, on instructions from the Turkish government. In practical terms, Ankara plugs any gaps in the north’s public finances to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars every year.

Before the general election in April 2009, the then-opposition, now-ruling National Unity Party (UBP), promised the unions that if it got into power it would not seek to implement the kind of austerity measures the then-ruling CTP was seeking to hand down from Ankara. The UBP won the election very comfortably. Last November, the party broke its promise by submitting the package and ratifying it, while the CTP – the party that designed the package – abstained.

Meanwhile, holders of tickets issued by Cyprus Turkish Airlines (CTA) will be demonstrating outside the northern administration’s representative office in London on Monday, to protest at the fact that they have neither completed their journeys nor received a refund.

On June 22, the Turkish Civil Aviation General Directorate suspended all CTA flights for three months, in response to the financial crisis that has hit the airline. CTA has stated it hopes to resume normal operations despite its financial difficulties.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.