Frank and Joan's news for 01 August 2009 in Northern Cyprus

Frank and Joan's Adventures in Northern Cyprus

Our adventures in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus continue....

First some Tiggy news. We took her back down to the vet yesterday for an antibiotic injection, which she needs every two weeks, and this was to be followed by her third session of chemo today. Apparently the injection upset her a little so the chemo is to be delayed until Monday morning, so we don't now pick her up again until Tuesday. Good news is that she is definitely putting on weight so all the food she is eating is doing her good.

The Saturday newspaper has a big article as a result of an interview with Mr Talat, the President of TRNC. The most important statement in this interview is that he definitely says that the state will not desert expat homebuyers. Mr Talat referred of course to the Orams case and says that the opposition lawyer even admits that the land issue cannot be resolved in this way. Mr Talat admits that the property issue is the biggest stumbling block to be faced in the peace talks but that they have proposed to set a series of criteria with the Property Board to make the final decision.

Mr Talat also conceded tha

t the subject of governance would be a major issue, one which they had so far failed to reach an agreement between the two presidents. I think that this problem needs to be resolved before the territorial issues, as if the presidents cant agree on how to run this united island that they are proposing, then there is little point in discussing property.

The Greek Cypriots are angry at a property deal. The European Court of Human Rights has endorsed a deal between the TRNC's Immovable Property Commission and a Greek Cypriot with property in Karsiyaka. The Property Commission deal involved returning part of the property in Karsiyaka and paying £1.5 million in compensation. The Greek Cypriot government is angry because it implies recognition of the TRNC authorities. Should be the way to go in future maybe and many more Greek Cypriots will be encouraged to go to the Immovable Property Commission.

The State is unable to pay the wages of the Public Sector workers. The Finance Minister says that public sector workers will have to make sacrifices to get government spending back on track. Not a big surprise.

The court case decision for direct flights has gone against CTA in UK court. Not surprising really as we had always thought that until the island overall situation is resolved the British courts would not alter things.

The government recently passed a bill to allow a Inspection Council to be set up to investigate corruption here in TRNC. This was to be ratified by the President but he has passed this to the Constitutional Court for an opinion. The courts are in recess until September and then they will take their time thinking about it. Interesting delaying tactics.

Temperatures for the next week are still forecast as 37 -40 degrees with high humidity. It really is quite difficult in the middle of the day and the only thing to do is to relax. We are still sleeping with a big fan at the end of the bed to blow cool air at us and combine this with open windows and fly screens. We personally find sleeping with all windows closed and the air con on quite unbearable.