moonskin
Mukhtar/is
Joined: 29 Aug 2005
Posts: 515
Location: Freiburg, Germany
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G'day everyone,
I think it is time for the Turkish Cypriot side to let go about their persistence for "trade & aid" going hand in hand. Of course this is a matter of politics and they have to keep their position until the last minute. But there are very serious issues in Northern Cyprus that needs addressing and for that, EU aids are the perfect tools.
Unfortunately, the infrastructure of the major cities of Northern Cyprus is in horrible state. To give an example, parts of Nicosia is suffering from the smoke that rises from the burning of the wastes at the Dikmen/Digomo (sorry for the perhaps wrong Greek spelling) waste dump site (1). Although this is such an unacceptable situation, unfortunately it is now seriously addressed. Since we're all so obsessed with our Cyprus problem, nobody raises these (mostly environmental) issues. Basically a big investment is needed in order to establish a waste recycling infrastructure which is a standard component of daily life in Northern EU countries.
While we want to convince EU to accept direct trade with us, we can not properly generate electricity even though it has been an issue for tens of years now. How on earth are we going to have investors to establish their business to do direct trade with outside when we can not supply the basic need of electricity for industry?
I don't even want to start about the telecommunication infrastructure (and in particular internet access), the postal services and other very very basic needs of a modern society that has been mandatorily ignored over the past years in North Cyprus. We need exactly the kind of aids that EU is proposing for our basic development. Therefore, it would be really a shame if we let that 260M E go. the good news is that we are such a small country that these things can be achieved much easier compared to bigger countries. But we need to start from somewhere. I think this is a good excuse to start.
Cheers.
(1) http://www.kibrisgazetesi.com/?newsid=25240&category=3 |
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