Gürcafer: The time to mutually upset each other is almost over

Cafer Gürcafer, the President of the Cyprus Turkish Building Contractors Association (CTBCA), noted that even though there are urgent decisions and steps which need to be taken for the country’s economy and welfare, what is on the agenda for a clear majority in the Assembly of the Republic is the early elections.

Gürcafer expressed that, “the time to mutually upset each other is almos over.”

Cafer Gürcafer went on to state, “We have 50 deputies in the Assembly. We should ask all of them, what happens if we cannot land the vaccine, if we cannot provide vaccination in a timely manner, if we concentrate on the elections and do not attend to the economic dimension of the task at hand, if our hotels remain closed during the 2021 season, and what if the manufacturers and traders that feed off the hotels in parallel remain closed as well? What would you think should be done in such a situation? Let us see how many of them would provide a logical answer. The time to mutually upset each other is over or almost over. Right now, the concerns for the majority of the Deputies are along the lines; ‘if there is an early election, will I be a candidate, will I be elected? I need to urgently arrange a visit to the so and so village’. We on the other hand are worried about the economy, the people, hunger and unemployment.”

Cyprus Turkish Building Contractors Association President Cafer Gürcafer made critical statements on the current public discourse when answering Çiğdem Aydın’s questions on TV 2020.

 “The real danger is knocking at the door…Now is the time to revitilize the economy”

CTBCA President Gürcafer said that when we lived through the lockdown due to the pandemic, people used their savings which they had been keeping for a rainy day. Now those savings are exhausted.

Gürcafer warned, “If we cannot revitalize the economy at present, then the real danger will begin.”

“Economic Organizations Platform is conscious of its responsibility ”

CTBCA President Cafer Gürcafer stated that at this juncture, the Economic Organizations Platform is conscious of its responsibiity. In this respect it meets everyday and delibarates on the resolutions of these issues.

“The Economic Organizations Platform meets every day and deliberates on these issues. As NGOs, we have a responsibility towards our community and the country. In a situation like this case, we have to work hand in hand, and stand shoulder to shoulder,” he said.

Cafer Gürcafer said, “We evaluated all the scenarios and the conclusion we have reached is that we have to vaccinate the society and ensure that our doors are open to the immunized people in the future. We need to get our share of the potential build-and-sell sector from tourism that will emerge. If we achieve this, 50-60 percent of the society will be vaccinated by April and we will open the country to tourists who wish to travel with a vaccination certificate. It would not be a miracle if we achieved this.’’

Gürcafer wen on to say, “While we grapple with this problem; to see some other people mouth off about ‘let’s go for elections, let’s have early elections’ will make us revolt. This is not something that should occur during this period.’’

“The issue is one of societal proportion”

CTBCA President Cafer Gürcafer said that the only person who contacted him after his announcement about the early elections from a few days ago was Tufan Erhürman, President of the Republican Turkish Party (CTP).

Stating that they talked about the issue at length with Erhürman, exchanging opinions on all possibilities, Gürcafer said, “We can think differently but the issue is a societal one.  At present, we have to set an example to the society in unity and solidarity and we must come out of this impasse. “What we want to state is that the business world together with its tens of thousands of employees are in serious discomfort, and this time our reaction will be very harsh if an early election gets into the discourse.”

“Health and the economy first then politics”

Continuing his speech, Gürcafer also called for unity and partnership between the government and opposition

Cafer Gürcafer said, “The government and the opposition pulling together, let us put all other agenda aside, let us meet every day in order to raise the economy.  Let us make decisions and implement those decisions. Let us develop a vaccination plan and bring the vaccine, let us achieve this. If they hold and election after that, they could. Our concern is that this main priority issue will be postponed and as a result a calamity will ensue. Nobody will then own this calamity. It will be that; ‘I was not in Government what could I have done’. However, this mentality has to change. Everyone has to feel responsible. They need to question their responsibilities towards the public ”

“There is a fault in the system”

He once again underlined that the mindset in the country and the whole system, as well as the regime, must change from top to bottom.

Gürcafer expressed that, “For better or worse a government has been formed, but if we need to step back a little bit; we were in a crisis economically and socially as well as being at war in terms of our health. Yet, we were left without a government.  During that period, we as the economic organizations said; ‘we have a responsibility towards this country. We should form a temporary technocratic government consisting of people with the most expertise. We need to have immediate success in order to conclude this war and end the crisis. We have to perform economic modeling based on pandemic conditions and plan for the short term.’ For reasons I cannot fathom, we took the Minister of Finance, Mr. Olgun Amcaoğlu, a man who grew up in finance and assigned him as the Minister of Education. We made an educator, Mr. Nazım Çavuşoğlu the Minister of Agriculture and Mr. Dursun Oğuz the Minister of Finance. I believe I am an experienced and mentally well-equipped person yet I could not make sense of it. But now it is done. What we need is a mindset change. The whole system in the country, including the regime, should change from top to bottom.’’

CTBCA President Cafer Gürcafer noted that there should be a means by which experts in the country can actively and efficiently partake in politics.

Gürcafer said, “In the country there are many people who are experts in their fields but we cannot benefit from their expertise. So there is a fault in the system. We need to turn a hand at this for all of our sake.”

“I could serve my country as the president of an NGO”

Responding to a viewer’s comment that “I think it is time for Mr. Gürcafer to enter politics, Gürcafer expounded, “I do not partake in politics. I am a president of an NGO, I believe I could serve my country in civil society as well. Even if the most competent person in the country is sent to the assembly, this system will waste that person. For this reason, we declare that the system should be taken as a whole and changed.”

“Populism is getting in the way of doing the right thing”

On Aydın’s question, Gürcafer also made a statement regarding the Alsancak-Lapta road project, and clarified that the tender legislation allows the tendered work to be reduced or decreased by 20 percent, and therefore if there is an increase for any reason, this increase is up to 20 percent.

Gürcafer stated that if an increase of more than 20 percent is in question, a separate Council of Ministers decision is required, otherwise a new tender needs to be issued.

However, Cafer Gürcafer said that sometimes what happens in our country clashes with objectivity; “For example, a complete project should have been established pertaining to the whole this business, sufficient resources should have been allocated, financing should have been secured and the whole work needed to be tendered in its entirety. Furthermore, undertaking a task by using 2 or 3 contractors may cause problems the future.’’

Stating that in addition to a lack of resources in the country, populist approaches also get in the way of doing the right thing to progress such works, Gürcafer said, ‘’Due to a lack of resources in our country and somewhat with a populist approach, sloppy works are being undertaken with the thought of ‘let me get out and at least be seen to have made start’. Güzelyurt hospital is a case in point. Initially its reinforced concrete tender came out, followed by its brick and plaster tender, and of course it is still not completed. Populism is getting in the way of doing the right thing by these works. Alsancak road is a priority project. It is an investment in infrastructure. This should have been done, but populism interferes and makes our contractors fall out with each other.’’