Opposition perplexed as north ‘parliament’ convenes during flood
Opposition members of the north’s ‘parliament’ expressed their confusion on Tuesday after the Turkish Cypriot legislature convened despite residential neighbourhoods within a 15-minute walk of the ‘parliament’ in the northern sector of Ayios Dhometios finding themselves under feet of water during severe floods which hit the area.
CTP leader Sila Usar Incirli led the calls for the day’s session to be adjourned, telling her colleagues that “people outside have been left stranded”, and then asking, “why have we convened here?”
“I want to ask sincerely; what are we doing here? What are you doing here? Rainfall since last night has overflowed reservoirs, flooded homes and businesses, and left people stranded in their homes. While the country has been turned upside down, we are all sat in here,” she said.
She said she had informed ‘prime minister’ Unal Ustel, who was in hospital for unrelated reasons, that the opposition would not object to a motion to adjourn the day’s sitting in light of the floods, but that the ruling coalition, led by ‘deputy prime minister’ Fikri Ataoglu in Ustel’s absence, had decided proceed regardless.
“What more important thing do you have to do today than to deal with this disaster? The rain will soon resume, and the country will be in even greater,” she said, before going on to describe the ruling coalition’s decision to hold Tuesday’s session as “incomprehensible”.
“We made this offer with all sincerity so that things could be done. Why are you here? If there is a reasonable answer, we would like to know … You are not at work; you are sitting in the parliament building. It is not clear why you are here. What is on your mind? Why are you not out on the streets when the opposition has given you space to work?”
‘Interior minister’ Dursun Oguz responded, saying that photographs of the situation were being taken every hour, and that he planned to “go back and forth” throughout the day.
“There is a state in this country. The state is on the ground. What was I doing this morning? We were told about it in the morning, and work has begun at the Nicosia [Dr Burhan Nalbantoglu] hospital … We will go back in between. Parliament will also be working,” he said.
He added that plans had been made to evacuate the hospital, which was built on top of a streambed, if the situation worsens.
His words were echoed by ‘finance minister’ Ozdemir Berova, who took to the legislature’s podium and said, “rest assured, our relevant institutions are on the ground”.
He said that the north’s ‘parliament’ has continued working during previous natural disasters and other crises and took umbrage at the CTP’s Devrim Barcin’s retort that the ruling coalition was “fooling around”, saying that “we vehemently reject this accusation”.
Barcin had also levelled criticism at Ataoglu, saying that he should be “at the head of the crisis table” rather than taking his seat in the legislature, while Salahi Sahiner, also of the CTP, said the ruling coalition was deliberately convening ‘parliament’ during the floods to ensure people would not be paying attention to the budget debate.
“While bridges have flooded, streambeds are overflowing, and people’s vehicles are being swept away by the rivers, there was no state in sight … We are continuing these parliament meetings to prevent the issues being discussed today from being brought onto the public agenda,” he said.
He added that the ruling coalition “wants budgets to pass without giving us a chance to debate”.