Gürcafer: We conducted an outcome focused technical workshop which bore results

Cafer Gürcafer, President of the Cyprus Turkish Building Contractors Association (CTBCA) and the current term spokesperson for the Economic Organizations Platform (EOP), evaluated the contacts made in Ankara by the EOP when speaking with the Bayrak Radio & Television (BRT) and further elaborated on the contacts to be held today.

Economic Organizations Platform members comprised by the Cyprus Turkish Chamber of Commerce, the Cyprus Turkish Chamber of Industry, the Cyprus Turkish Building Contractors Association and the North Cyprus Hoteliers Association, came together in Ankara with the Vice President of Turkey Fuat Oktay, and with the heads of the Ankara Chamber of Commerce and the Turkish Chambers & Exchanges Union yesterday at the Turkish Presidential Complex.

The Economic Organizations Platform (EOP) will continue with its discussions in Ankara today.

Cafer Gürcafer, President of the Turkish Cypriot Building Contractors Association, will also hold a meeting with the General Director of Highways of Turkey today at 16.30.

Similarly, Cyprus Turkish Chamber of Commerce (CTCC) President Turgay Deniz and Cyprus Turkish Chamber of Industry (CTCI) President Candan Avunduk will attend a meeting at Turkey’s Ministry of Industry and Technology.

“We discussed all the details and had a very productive meeting”

CTBCA President Cafer Gürcafer said that the discussion with the Deputy President of the Republic of Turkey, Fuat Oktay, was about how the economy of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC)  could be revived during and after the pandemic, how it could be restored to a sustainable footing, and that they had a very productive meeting.

Gürcafer explained the issues discussed at the meeting with Oktay as follows:

‘’We went with Mr. Oktay through all the details explicitly of what could be done for the TRNC economy, what is being done right, what is being done wrong, and what should not be done. We talked about how important planning is for the economy and that we had not made our plans to determine the necessary resources. We talked about why national planning is important. Of course, we previously had a reaction about the tenders being issued in Ankara, we touched on that too. We discussed how important it is to create organized industrial zones and how crucial trade-based sites are for the tradesmen. We talked about the need for socio-economic planning in order to progress, about the necessity of a long-term enterprise that will not change whenever a transfer of power occurs in government. Of course, technical delegations from our country always go to Ankara and work there. They know the issues expressed by them, but we have also discussed extensively how the real sector and its managers’ view is fundamental to understand as they evaluate the situation with their hearts and minds. Frankly, we were well received and listened to. I can say that we conducted an outcome focused technical workshop which bore results ”

“Contacts will continue”

CTBCA President Cafer Gürcafer said that, within the framework of the contacts in Ankara, they also had meetings with the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey, with the Ankara Chamber of Commerce and with the Building Contractors Association of Turkey.

Gürcafer noted that, in their meetings with these NGOs in Ankara, they talked about the need to have a discourse on what could be done in order for the TRNC to have a sustainable social, economic and healthy composition.

Stating that the contacts of the Economic Organizations Platform (EOP) in Ankara will continue today, Gürcafer gave the following details with respect to these meetings:

“Today at 16.30 TC. I will have a meeting with the General Manager of Highways. This meeting will be about how to make it possible for the Turkish Cypriot Contractors to build our roads or what could be done to extend the tenders for outside bidders, to understand what technical obstacles exist for this, and to open up the debate about the technical or structural problems that cause this to arise in Ankara. Also, today our president of the Chamber of Industry and our president of the Chamber of Commerce are attending a meeting at the Ministry of Industry of the Republic of Turkey regarding the formation of special industrial zones.”

“This bridge must not collapse”

Emphasizing that a very good relationship was established and a crucial bridge was built within the scope of Ankara contacts, CTBCA President Cafer Gürcafer said that it is critically important to maintain this bridge.

Cafer Gürcafer said: “We emphasized how important it is to work together. In fact, the demand from the other side was likewise. The current optics are that ‘one side does – the other side obeys’; this is not favourable to anyone and it damages both sides. It also causes a significant degree of mutual misunderstanding. Working together leads to outcomes that are accepted at all times and by all concerned. An appropriate form of dialogue was needed for this. We think this form of a dialogue will span a long period. We have our own internal issues. We have problems with our own state and government that we need to talk and resolve irrespective of who holds the power. It is not right to shift this to Ankara. We ought never do that. The issue we are focusing on is determining what is possible for us to do in order to raise the TRNC economically and to transform it into a sustainable footing. In this context, we talked about how we can do our best with the Vice President of the Republic of Turkey, Mr. Fuat Oktay who already shares our desire.  Specifically, we discussed the meaning of issuing tenders in Nicosia for building roads worth up to 1 billion TL, tenders that feed 60-70 sub-sectors and we questioned why this could not be done. We talked about what could be done to make this happen. It is crucial that we keep this up because any incorrect information, misinformation, always produces the wrong results that are subsequently difficult to reverse. Therefore, it is critical to keep the relationship firm and to be organized in a way that serves this purpose.”

“All our predictions and suggestions about the vaccine were supported and accepted”

Touching on the subject of the vaccine, Gürcafer stated that all of their predictions and suggestions were supported and accepted.

Reminding the Prime Minister Ersan Saner’s upcoming visit to Ankara on Friday, he said, “I expect that more concrete information will be released to the public about vaccination”.

The explanation of Gürcafer on vaccination is exactly as follows: “It is very important to correctly explain what our vaccine request means. If the TRNC cannot be opened up, the scale of the wreckage that will emerge would be around 5-6 billion (TL), if not more. If this wreckage emerges, it will be laid in front of Turkey’s door anyway. Therefore, what needs to take place in order to prevent this from being realised was discussed. The vaccine and vaccination; opening the doors of TRNC to people who have been vaccinated for tourism is very important. If this is not adequately explained, it would seem like the Anatolian people’s right to vaccination is being taken away. What I am at liberty to state with respect to vaccination; it is very, very positive. All our predictions and suggestions found acceptance and support. On Friday, the Prime Minister is coming to Ankara for the signing of the protocol. I expect that more concrete information will be issued to the public in this regard on Friday.’’