The TRNC assembly held a debate on Monday about the signing of an energy deal to run an undersea electricity cable between Turkey and North Cyprus.
Opposition parties’ deputies strongly criticised the UBP-DP coalition government and asked who has information about the framework agreement.
Deputy Prime Minister Serdar Denktaş stated that this is a framework agreement and said that he had not studied the agreement but he is aware of its context. He also said that Energy Minister Sunat Atun and Prime Minister Huseyin Ozgurgun have the agreement in their hands and added that for the time being, it is not something to be brought in front of the assembly. “That is the reason I did not bring it here”, he said, adding that all the details regarding the implementation of the agreement will be discussed at a later point, in 2018.
He went on to say that if a solution to the Cyprus problem is reached, the electricity authority will continue to produce electricity and that the authority could be divided in two and an energy bureau could be established. He also said that it is essential that the TRNC electricity grid is connected with Turkey and consequentially, with Europe, noting that Turkey is connected for the time being with Georgia and Bulgaria via electricity.
Ersin Tatar, deputy for the National Unity Party (UBP), stated that Turkey gives great importance to this project and added that its feasibility and model will be revealed during studies to be conducted at a later date.
Deputy for the Republican Turkish Party (CTP) Tufan Erhurman, stated that they were informed about this agreement by the media and added that they do not agree with the procedure followed. He reminded the other deputies about all the mistakes made regarding the water transferred from Turkey and wondered what will happen in case there are similar problems with this agreement as well.
On his part, deputy with the Socialist Democracy Party (TDP) Mehmet Cakici wondered who will provide answers to the questions asked about the context of the agreement. He went on and said that the electricity authority will be handed over like a gift, to a private company and that there has been no cooperation with the opposition parties or the assembly, on the issue. “The deputies did not have information on the issue. This is no democracy”, he said.
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