Gürcafer: The Protocol is an ointment but it is not enough to heal our wounds

Cafer Gürcafer, the President of the Cyprus Turkish Building Contractors Association (CTBCA), stated that the 2021 Economic and Financial Cooperation Protocol is not enough to heal the wounds in the country’s economy and warned “let’s not get complacent”.

CTBCA President Gürcafer said, “I think the protocol will contribute to the economy. But to think; ‘The protocol was signed, the money will arrive and all our worries and troubles will be over, the economy will become rosy again…!’ There is no such thing. Let’s not make that mistake. The 300-500 million TL that will arrive from there is an ointment, it is useful, it is curative, it is helpful, but it is not enough to heal our wounds.”

Gürcafer evaluated the 2021 Economic and Financial Cooperation Protocol as a guest of the “Pulse of Cyprus” programme, broadcast in Ses Cyprus, and answered Aytuğ Tükkan’s questions on topical issues.

“Turkey now; is very much resolved to no longer pour money down a bottomless pit”

CTBCA Cafer Gürcafer said that, in their meeting which took place in Ankara, attended as the Economic Organizations Platform (EOP), he was left with the distinct impression of Turkey’s determination not to continue pouring money down a bottomless pit.

Gürcafer stated that the sums in the protocol are sums that will directly go to the market and contribute to the economy, and that they are not sums that could be used to cover the budget deficit or to meet public expenditure.

Cafer Gürcafer, said: ‘’As far as I see, due to the contacts we made in Ankara as the EOP, it appears that Turkey now; is very much resolved to no longer pour money down a bottomless pit. It says, ‘The help we will offer should somehow turn into added value and it should be about very accurate projects. In other words, it should directly contribute to the welfare of the society, the development of the economy and social life’. Therefore, within the content of the protocol, there is a contribution that is said to be provided to the real economic sector as well as a decision relating to the establishment of organized industrial zones. All of these relate to investments to be made in infrastructure. They are the sums that will directly go to the market and contribute to the economy. It is not a sum to be grabbed and be used to cover the budget deficit or to meet public expenditure.’’

“Must not get complacent”

CTBCA President Cafer Gürcafer stated that the protocol will contribute to the economy and warned, ‘’But to think; ‘The protocol was signed, the money will arrive and all our worries and troubles will be over, the economy will become rosy again…! There is no such thing ‘. Let us not make that mistake.’’

Gürcafer said, “This is to breathe a little, this is a shot in the arm to the market. Critically, using this 3.5 billion TL through methods based on the result of a scientific study in order to contribute to the economy is very important, but it will not work if it is used for consumption purposes”

Gürcafer noted that during EOP’s meetings in Turkey, one of the subjects insisted on was the economic development plan.

Gürcafer drew attention to the fact that there is no development plan for the TRNC, and stated that with each different government, every time power has changed, with every change of minister in Turkey, a new and different vision emerges and associated to these changes, different economic policies are put forth.

Stating that this is wrong, Cafer Gürcafer argued that long-term development plans should be made in the TRNC and these plans should be based on scientific studies, and this should be done by the Turkish Cypriots.

Gürcaf said, “We need to do this with the contribution from Turkey and Turkey’s aid must be in keeping with these plans. Otherwise, the contribution will be palliative, like a gift. It is not a sustainable contribution that boosts the economy and increases per capita national income. I raised this in Turkey. I specifically said this.”

“Master Plans are an important component of the Development Plan”

CTBCA President Cafer Gürcafer said that the master plans are an important part of the development plan, but there is no resource allocated for development master plans in any protocol signed from the past to the present. Stating that they had brought this subject to the Republic of Turkey Vice President, Fuat Oktay’s attention, Gürcafer added that Oktay thought they were right in this respect.

Noting that a strong team and serious means of equipment are needed for the development of master plans, Gürcafer said, “This work cannot be done with 3-5 personnel. If you wait for such a team to complete the planning of the whole country in a shed with limited opportunities, you would be waiting for a while. This job requires team work. You create a team of 60 people and this team includes economists, sociologists, social scientists, and these people are chosen from our people. You also provide the equipment, put a budget of 3-5 million TL, and from the beginning to the end of 2021 you develop the master plans for the whole country from Yeşilırmak to Dipkarpaz. The country already has a National Physical Plan anyway.

Cafer Gürcafer made the following statements and continued his speech; TR-TRNC relations are much more serious now. Even if the TRNC is not recognized in the Eastern Mediterranean, its economy still needs to be raised. Taiwan is not recognized, but it has business relations with the whole world. Therefore, there is a serious eagerness to achieve this in the TRNC, but this is a quest and we will not get the right result if this quest is not planned correctly. Even where our business relations will be is still unclear. Partnerships will be established, okay, but how will these be? Which issues will they entail? All these are the details of that economic development plan. We start at the end. In other words, it would not be ‘let it appear in the shop window first and we will fill behind it later’. We need to work on the details and do this without too much delay.

“It is imperative that we debate the productivity in the system”

CTBCA President Cafer Gürcafer noted that NGOs should take joint steps to eliminate structural defects in the country.

Saying that “the point we have reached is not sustainable”, Gürcafer added, “We have structural defects. How did it come to be like this? Where did it emerge and where did it come from? Over time, it compounded and turned into a complete wreckage. People currently in politics are not responsible for this. As a result of the mistakes made by the politicians of yesteryears, their negligence, their missteps as they did not foresee things correctly, this country has come to this.  We are sunk, we have to come up somehow. As NGOs, we need to make a move in this regard in order to eliminate our structural defects. We are doing it by engaging in policy.”

Gürcafer said, “What do I care about the Election Law or the law on political parties? The reason I am interested is because it has a stake in the collapse of the whole system.  In order to fix the system, I need to fix that as well. The political sector is the sector that runs the country and, in my opinion, it should exploit the best human resources available. Therefore, it means that there is a malfunction in the system that prevents the proper management of this country. You could send 5-10 good people and very valuable people to the parliament, but any one of them will look around and end up feeling dumb. He will say ‘Friends, sorry, this is not for me’ and will run off after 5 years without doing anything. This should not happen. We need to send our most precious ones to the parliament and discuss the efficiency of the system.”

“My politician is not doing what should be done”

CTBCA President Cafer Gürcafer also made important statements about the tenders’ affair. Gürcafer said, “This affair has two parts; one of which is that there were such debates in the 90’s when Ecevit ruled. Then it was said to us, ‘You are not sufficient in terms of vehicle and storage parks. We’ll offer you little roads. Let us offer you interlock roads between villages and roads for villages. You gradually improve yourself with these jobs. After you improve yourself, let’s have great roads to be tendered out from here.’ Of course, this was written on ice. With the departure of the politicians of that day, it was gone.”

Looking at today’s picture, Gürcafer noted that while there were 3 makeshift asphalt factories in the country at that time, today there were 13 asphalt factories and a machine fleet worth over 100 million dollars.

Cafer Gürcafer said: “Today, while there is so much hardship in Turkey, it wanted to arrive here with such good tidings as ‘we are building all your roads’ and expected to be met with appreciation from their perspective, and then of course it encountered our response.  Because my politician is not doing what he has to do. He does not go and explain what this means for our people, to our economy. Instead, he says, ‘it is true sir, you do it, you are right.’ Consequently, this created serious issues for us.”

He explained the second part on the tenders’ affair as follows:

“We have developed the infrastructure and we are capable of doing these jobs. Furthermore, we are not asking for too much money. This is also an ugly ascription. I’m very sorry, that this is also being spoken by my politicians. When it is claimed that ‘Contractors in Cyprus are expensive. Contractors will do it much more cheaply in Turkey’; when my politician heard this, he did investigate and if found true, did not ask where does it spring from, and feel the need to discover. It is being spoken like this for over 20 years. Hence, we explained that this is not true, line by line. Why is it not true? Because the price difference between purchasing the fuel used in the production of 1 ton of asphalt without funding and purchasing it with funding is 35 TL.  The difference for Tar is at 160 TL vs. 200 TL per ton. We wrote them down on a list and spoke about it.  Secondly, we explained properly what is necessary in order for the TRNC economy to become self-sufficient, what it means for our political interests that this scene emergences, therefore, what the utility of the construction sector is at this point, how many thousands of us earn our crust from this sector, the need for the existence of such sectors for the Cypriots to exist here. We were very happy to have understood each other too. So, this was not being done.’’

“We have come to terms”

Touching on his contact with the Republic of Turkey General Directorate of Highways, Gürcafer said, “We have consensus, we have come to terms, we have demonstrated a common mind; and the right thing to do is to start as partners so that both a contribution to economy would be made and our contractors would gain experience. We agreed on the point that, ‘in time, when you will reach the stage that you can build these first-class roads, and when you get to that point, the Cypriots will completely do it’. Therefore, all tenders that will be released in Ankara from now on will be made on this basis, within this principle”

Gürcafer drew attention to the announcements made by the Vice President of the Turkish Republic, Fuat Oktay, about Cyprus, and the Ministry of Public Works and Transport regarding the construction of roads, and noted how, at the latest, the result of this will be seen within 1-2 months.

Continuing his statement, Gürcafer said: “We have reports from the Construction Sub-Committee.  What we are saying is that the specification, for example, when a 150 km road tender comes out in Turkey, states; ‘Contractors who will participate in this tender must have completed at least 100 km as a single project.’ There is no such thing with that scale in our country. Therefore, by adapting things to the scale of our own country, for example; a well-experienced contractor needs to have built a 15 km road to say ‘I am a road building contractor’ for Cyprus conditions. We will adapt accordingly.  10-15 contractor companies with a first-class report card, storage park, and bank reference letter are designated. Competency qualification gets issued by the Ministry of Public Works and Transport. It will not matter which one of those would get awarded. This is their business. The important thing for us is to achieve this, to bring the business to that point.

In the contracting sector, the profit margin in these tenders is at maximum 10 percent. This means that; the remaining figure, that is the 85 percent, goes to the 60-70 sub-sector that is in this sector. This means providing bread to thousands of people. This is a very important and critical value for our economy.”

“With respect to our country’s economy, 2021 is very important”

Upon Türkkan’s question, CTBCA President Cafer Gürcafer, also made a statement regarding his meeting with Prime Minister Ersan Saner, “We had spoken with the Honourable Prime Minister before we left. He called us in as soon as we returned. We talked about a few troubling issues as well as what we should do in general. I’m optimistic but also a little worried. My concern is that the train is leaving, 2021 should not be lost. With respect to our country’s economy, 2021 is very important. That’s why we, as economic organizations, called out ‘vaccine’. Now a plan and a program are being developed all over the world. We also need to develop a plan and a program. There is nothing we are doing about the vaccine, vaccination, or shaping the economy in a way so it could live with pandemic as long as it would take. We have to do these.”

Gürcafer, stating that with the emergence of the vaccine, the light now appears at the end of the tunnel, went on to say, “…there is some optimism in me at this point. In fact, I would like this experience to be appraised as an opportunity to correct our structural defects. We can turn these encounters into an opportunity. It is necessary to know the fine line between doom mongering and criticizing something. We cannot go anywhere just by criticizing. It is necessary to be constructive too.’’