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Our
adventures in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus continue....
 
Start of another new month and we had been back in time for Ian Smith agency to show somebody round yesterday. A long viewing and apparently the guy absolutely loved the place but finally thought that it was too big for a holiday home, which is all he really wanted. Shame but maybe next time.
So far we have had some lovely weather since we got back but seem to have missed some pretty horrendous stuff during the last couple of weeks. If we look at how much the weeds and hedges have grown then I guess we missed some real rain.
Our friend Steinni, from Iceland, is here at the moment together with Hilmar and their respective wives, so this evening we all six went to Charcos and had a super evening. They were very impressed with the restaurant, both quality and price and they have worked out that they can walk there in about 15 minutes.
it seems that things in Iceland are still quite bad financially, but thankfully, Steinni and his family are in the fish export business so can ride out the storm very well. The banks just love them as they bring much needed foreign currency in to the country.
That's it, now I am on the pill. I visited Dr Nuray today as the old pressure was still high so it seemed the sensible thing to do. I have a lot of faith in this lady, since she guided me in the right direction over the gall bladder problem, a couple of years ago. Well she gave me a complete once over when she discovered how high my blood pressure was. She has an ultrasound machine in her surgery and was able to check out all the essentials such as kidney, liver and even the prostrate. Thankfully these appear to be old but working well so I now have pills to try to bring the blood pressure down and she wants to check things out weekly for a little while. So that's it, take the pill and stop worrying. Good news, now we can get on with the French lessons.
When we were in UK we bought a visual/audio French course as clearly we are a bit rusty after all these years and "the pen of my aunt" is not much use to anybody. It is amazing how much is coming back, but it is 25 years since I last did any work in France. Whatever we say, it is a hell of a lot easier than Turkish.
Oh yes, our friend Richard is still with us. He was here house sitting whilst we were away and has not yet found any other place to rent, so we have said make a contribution to the trough and stay around. No doubt when business starts to pick up again he will want to be off, but in the meantime it is good to have him here, not the least because he is on a very strict diet, so that puts us all on one. Maybe I will finally lose some of this weight.
Bit of a miserable start, rain during the night and lots of clouds around so guess that might put paid to the gardening today. Never mind at least it gives me time to catch up on this diary.
None of the old bacon and egg this morning, just a couple of lightly poached eggs on wholemeal toast. Nice though, so maybe I will get used to it, no lunch but some pork and veg tonight.
During the afternoon it cleared up a little so the three of us went for a walk down to the seafront area and had a drink in Rosie's Bar which is now open for the season.
The paper says that the government has reduced VAT on 21 items, it says that it is doing so to overcome the economic crisis by creating a chain reaction by increasing demand and improving cash flow. It also says that these reductions only apply until May 31st. Now there is a general election later this month so this cynic thinks that they might just be touting for votes. Do I hear you say NO.....
Well it had to happen. McDonald's has come to the island, admittedly under the guise of Bigmac but with the well known golden M as a sign and possibly this is just the start as the man who opens the first one says he has other sites planned.
An attempt is being made to co-ordinate a big litter pick up. Tourism chiefs are linking together to clean up TRNC and are asking for volunteers during the periods 10th to 27th April. The leader of Cyprus Turkish Travel Agencies is organising and had apparently said "Tourists are complaining about litter and we can see it for ourselves". One of the important links is with the Education Ministry in the hope that by educating the children about litter, from Primary School age, they will educate the adults. Remember "Keep Britain Tidy"
As it is election build up time there are many articles which clearly show that votes need to be won all round. Our problem as ex-pats, is that we cannot vote and have no influence, so just have to sit and await the outcome and see what any new blood can do for this lot.
Late afternoon, I watched Man U score a late goal in the "5" minutes extra time awarded which was disappointing to say the least. Where else in UK do they get 5 minutes extra time except when Man U are at home?
Everything is sort of back to a routine now and that includes of course "boy's night out" We did however try a new venue. A few years ago we used to frequent The Cabin here in Lapta, especially on a Friday evening. Well it has been re-opened, all smartened up and with the old chef in residence. Well we tried it for just a few beers with the lads and it may just be a place to go when the evenings get a little warmer. Most of the real seating is outside and the menu looks OK, we just need to try the food sometime.
It is good that this has happened as Lapta has been short of this sort of evening place, although there are some good restaurants in the area.
Thursday evening and the crowd was going to be made up of the layabouts + a few extras. Four of our Icelandic friends are here, as I said last week and wanted to join up with the gang for an evening out. Because the total number was going to be 17 we had to pick a restaurant that could cope with that many together.
The choice was Sevenar in Alsancak, they have a large room and despite being quite full, they looked after us all very well. This restaurant has a good reputation and the people are very friendly. An enjoyable evening.
Made a big start on the hedge and shrub trimming today. Everything has grown furiously during the weeks we were away so now it is attack time before it gets too hot during the day.
The day was concluded nicely by getting an invitation to Pat's corn beef hash evening. Pat reckons that this is probably the last of the winter and enjoyed by all of us as usual. It must be getting near to BBQ times now.
Woke up this morning to more rain, so that's my excuse for not going out in to the garden again. So had a lie in and read for a while then we all got up and had some poached eggs etc for breakfast, still no fried bacon etc. allowed.
Remember the saga of the consistently missing post from UK, well after the tests conducted by BRS members which revealed that only one-fifth of the mail actually arrived, the Royal Mail is to conduct its own test and try to get at the source of the problem.
A further 50 speed cameras are coming to the island. Don't know if these are really doing as much good as the authorities would like because I am convinced that many of them are not actually working. I know that on one or two occasions during my travels around I have been slightly less than attentive. Before we went to UK and France I got Joan to call in to the police station and check that there were no tickets against my car number and she was told that I had been a good boy.
Whilst they talk about reducing speed it was also revealed that a 28 year old driver in a Range Rover collided with a parked vehicle whilst attempting to overtake at speed, killing a lady passenger.
The highways department has announced that another tender will held for the very, very late Girne by-pass. One day we may be able to miss out on the daily Karaoglanoglou crawl. At the same time they have also announced that, after three years, the land dispute on the 20 metre section of the Northern Coastal Road has been resolved. But there is no contractor to finish the work so still we wait.
The reservoirs in TRNC are 25% full now compared with 17% at this time last year. This of course still means a water shortage but not quite as bad as last year. Apparently the last time that the reservoirs were actually full was in 2003/2004.
A week today is election day so lots of stuff in the weekly paper about the various parties and their promises. The final results will be interesting but of course we cannot influence the results. Many are suggesting that the UBP party will hold control but it will still be a coalition government. Some local friends are telling me that UBP are very much in favour of a divided island with each side retaining it's own government. We have always said that they cannot live together so maybe this will be the ideal, but we still need world recognition.
Went back to Dr Nuray today and the good news is that my BP is down to 140/80. Must be the pills she put me on and says that I am going to have to stay on for some time to come. At least in her words, I am no longer a walking time bomb.
Had a visit from Dolphin Movers this afternoon, they are going to give us an estimate for packing and moving us to France, just part of the preparation needed.
This evening the boys returned to The Ravine, withdrawal symptoms on the chips I think, the Chelsea/ Liverpool game was on whilst we were there........oh dear, still we are going to win the league, aren't we?
News just in from Bryn Lewis.
The Pumas will be playing the UN at the Alsancak stadium on Saturday April 25.
Kick off will be at 3.30pm followed at 5pm by a BBQ, beer tent and entertainment on the training pitch. Everyone is welcome tickets for the BBQ will be on sale at the match.
Please come along and support the Pumas and enjoy a great afternoon.
Any queries please call 0533 866 2758.
Lets give them some support.
This evening six from Iceland, two more have arrived and eight layabouts selected the Grumpy Grouse for an evening out. The GG is situated at Kings Court hotel complex in Alsancak.
We had been recommended to give this restaurant a try and have to say that it was just excellent. All of us praised the food and its presentation, its price and the fact that they managed to serve all fifteen of us within half an hour of ordering, something that is rare over here. Definitely on our list of good ones.
This morning was half yearly blood donor day, organised by the BRS at Girne hospital. No problem except nobody told me that these BP pills would make it very difficult for the very small needle hole to heal up. Oops, very wet and red shirt sleeve.
Tomorrow is general election day, results will be confirmed by Tuesday and the consensus of opinion is that the National Unity Party (UBP) will be the party in control. There are a total of 160,000 citizens entitled to vote for 350 party candidates and 8 independents and there are a total of 50 seats in the parliament. A bit of a bun fight then. Alcohol is not allowed to be sold tomorrow between the hours of 9am and 6pm. Don't ask me why, maybe there is a past history which instigated this ruling.
There is still talk in the paper of talks about reunifying the island, but many say it is a stalemate and the UN is claiming that the compensation pot for peace could be $20bn just to solve the property issue and that they will not pay. Others say that this is like the last chance saloon for the two Presidents and with the result of the Orams case due out next month the whole issue could escalate again.
There have been a couple of burglaries in Karsiyaka and Lapta over the last couple of weeks, both occurred when the owners were out attending official functions or in one case visiting UK. The blog sites are suggesting that they may have been targeted by British crooks. Don't know how they can come to this conclusion when there are so many Turkish mainlanders here without work, but it could be true and if so very very sad, but then you all know my opinion of blog sites and hideaway postings to them, they tend to generate unsupported rumours very easily and often maliciously.
The same thing is now applying to the letters page in the newspaper. A letter attacking somebody, or voicing an opinion and at the end of it "name supplied". If you don't have the courage to put your name to the letter then don't write in the first place. Note to the editor....Don't Publish!
The legal challenge to the UK government's refusal to allow direct flights to TRNC will take place on May 18th in the London High Court. We await an interesting outcome.
Ten pin bowling has come to the island with two new alleys opened up in Karakum and Gazi Magusa. These are apparently proving very popular and now there is a £3million leisure complex being built just off the new by-pass, due to open in September. Probably before the by-pass as things go here.
Interesting to read that four out of ten of the Dolmus buses, which ply their trade between Girne and villages such as Lapta, are operating illegally. That is incredible to comprehend considering there are supposed to be so many more roadside police checks these days. You have to ask also, when was the the last legal MOT test done on some of these things.
An interesting article appeared in The Telegraph recently which should be read by all those who still believe that history started here in 1974 when the Turkish army intervened to save the life of the Turkish Cypriots who resided here:-
THE FORGOTTEN SOLDIERS BURIED IN NO MAN'S LAND
Fifty years ago, terrorists on Cyprus killed nearly 400 British soldiers.
In an all but forgotten graveyard in the UN-patrolled no man's land which divides Cyprus, a small group of ageing British veterans will gather today to remember 371 servicemen whose sacrifice remains unrecognised 50 years after they fell.
Wayne's Keep Military Cemetery, near Nicosia, is the last resting place of the soldiers, sailors and airmen murdered by Greek-Cypriot terrorists during four years of bloodshed which ended in April 1959. The vast majority of those killed were young men carrying out National Service, some of the last British conscripts to lose their lives in service of their country.
Yet to date, no memorial has been built to honour them, and with Wayne's Keep virtually inaccessible to the general public, their families and comrades feel a deep frustration at being unable to pay their respects.
This year, with the help of Telegraph readers, they intend to right that wrong by raising £200,000 for a permanent memorial on Cyprus, which will bear the names of every man who died at the hands of the Greek Cypriot guerrilla organisation EOKA.
"There is a feeling that the memory of these men is already fading into history, because when people think of Cyprus they think of its turbulent political history in recent times, but they forget that British servicemen died in large numbers beforehand.
"The political situation is still very sensitive, we realise that, but our aim is to remove this from politics. It is simply about commemorating lives lost."
The Cyprus Emergency, as it was then known, consisted of a series of murderous attacks on servicemen in what was then a British colony by members of EOKA (the Greek acronym for National Organisation of Cypriot Fighters), starting in April 1955.
General Sir John Waters, who served in Cyprus with the Gloucestershire Regiment and later Commander in Chief, UK Land Forces, said: "Fundamentally, it was similar to Northern Ireland, because the tactics they were using included sniper attacks, roadside bombs and barbed wire strung across roads at neck height. I was blown up by a remote-controlled bomb, together with another officer and four soldiers, but we were extremely lucky as none of us were killed."
The deaths of Cornet Charles Stephen Fox-Strangways, of the Royal Horse Guards, and Trooper John Proctor on July 8, 1958, summed up the brutality of EOKA; they were off duty and collecting groceries from a shop in Famagusta when gunmen entered and repeatedly shot both men in the back. They were both just 20 years old.
It was a precursor to regular street ambushes in cities such as Nicosia, where the central avenue became known as the murder mile because of the number of lives claimed by assassins.
Sir Henry Beverley said: "It got worse and worse as time went on. There was rioting going on almost round the clock and it was our job to try to stop it. Just before Christmas in 1955, I was on duty during a riot when my troop sergeant, John Routledge, was hit by a home-made grenade lobbed from the crowd. He lived for a few hours but very sadly he died."
The terrorist attacks finally stopped in April 1959, a year before the island was granted independence after an agreement between the UK, Greece and Turkey. Fighting between the Greeks and Turks in 1974 led to the division which still exists.
There is a collection being made to build a memorial to those who died. Interestingly the Greek Cypriots will not allow this memorial to be erected either in Wayne's Keep or on their side of the island.
Today is the official opening of The Punjab restaurant here in Lapta. This is in fact what used to be our favourite Saffron restaurant, there along the seafront area, which has been closed for more than one year now.
Because the Layabouts felt that the offer of free wine at the Punjab would attract many ex-pats along for the free bit, we opted to go to The Oleander, which is another Indian/European style restaurant run by our friend Riaz who has been here for a number of years, running both Jashans and this restaurant.
A fair crowd turned out as we also still have four Icelanders amongst the gang at the moment and a very enjoyable evening was had by all as usual. Good restaurant and you will find a link to their website in our TRNC info section.
Last evening, Joan and I were at The Chandelier restaurant in Bellapais. This is a fairly new restaurant,very nicely fitted out but unfortunately devoid of many customers. The quality was excellent and the prices aimed at that special occasion dining.
We were guests of our friends Atay and his wife Acile and they had also included Dr Nuray and her husband with us. Dr Nuray's daughter has recently become engaged to Atay's son so they are obviously going to become related soon. A very enjoyable evening.
After a weekend of further hedge cutting etc., as it is very much that time of the year, I now have time to look at what the local journalists have to write about.
The saddest article on the front page is about a 35 year old English guy, arrested for robbing a supermarket in Alsancak. Prompted by this arrest and the man's apparent confession, Lapta police have posted on a North Cyprus Internet site, urging anyone to come forward with information about the recent spate of burglaries in the area to get in touch. I have been told that the man's legal representative is trying to get an immediate deportation order, instead of first a prison sentence followed by deportation. Whatever, lets get the man off the island, we don't need this sort of ex-pat around.
The election result was as forecast, a win for the UBP party. This time they have a majority sufficient to form a government without needing a coalition partner. Let us just hope that the locals who are saying this will mean big changes for the better, have got it right.
Next Tuesday is the date for the ruling in Luxembourg on the Orams case. I feel sure that this will have far reaching effects on all of us here so we will have to await the result.
Summer working hours start on May 4th. From that date government departments will work 7.30am until 6pm on Mondays with a lunch break from 2pm until 3.30pm. The rest of the week they work only 7.30am until 2pm. This in the modern world of air conditioned offices is ridiculous and is one of the reasons why nothing gets done here, plus of course they get thirteen full salaries for these part time jobs.
There is big fuss about Serdar Denktas, son of the previous president and leader of the DP party, admitting to paying out 19,000TL to buy votes for his party in the election. He says that this happens all the time and only did it to expose vote rigging. This is democracy and observers say that vote buying has come to be expected in TRNC elections? If he knew all this was going on, why wait until after the results are announced to tell the world what he did.
What is very noticeable this year is the overall weather situation. Normally by this time in April we have been swimming in our pool. But alas not this year, for this old couple it is just not warm enough yet.
I have had many e-mails over the last 24 hours referring to the EU judgment in the Orams case. Some of them point me to articles in UK newspapers such as The Telegraph, which as always show biased reporting, with little or no research being done to the true facts of the situation out here.
The summary of the judgment is as follows:-
The EU's top court has backed the right of a Greek Cypriot to reclaim land in Turkish-controlled northern Cyprus that has since been sold to a UK couple.
This was the headline statement as a result of the European Court decision yesterday on the Orams case. The headline backs the original court judgment made 4/5 years ago and this judgment was exactly as expected from one EU court, namely in the Republic of Cyprus and the EU's top court.
The European Court of Justice says a ruling in a Cypriot court that the villa must be demolished, is applicable.
But this subsequent statement is the important one.
Even if the EU ruling cannot be enacted because the land is under Turkish Cypriot control, it means Mr Apostolides will be able to pursue a claim for compensation in a UK court.
This clearly means that he can only claim compensation for the land and there is an EU sponsored "Compensation Claims Board" already set up for this purpose, here in the TRNC. Over 300 claims have been made by Greek Cypriots through this court and these have either been settled by compensation or had land returned to them that was still under government ownership. So the likely outcome of any claim through British courts is to have the action referred back to the Compensation Claims Board.
The court ruling has not said at any time that claims can be made against any property in UK.
In view of the fact that a number of Greek Cypriots have already made compensation claims points clearly to the fact that all the Orams case has been political posturing of the worst sort.
What everybody should be aware of is the fact that there are many Turkish Cypriots with land and property deeds for areas in the South of the island. I am reliably advised that some of these people have tried for the last 5 years to get their claims heard in the courts of The Republic of Cyprus, but have been constantly denied access to the courts. Because of the non recognition of the North, these actions can only take place in the South, before being further processed in other EU courts. Clearly Greek Cypriots are using their EU influence to their own advantage and the EU should be made aware of the very worst decision they ever made, to accept the South into the EU after they rejected the Annan plan in the 2004 referendum. Since that date the EU has never kept it's promises to the TRNC.
Time will tell what the ultimate outcome will be, but hopefully compensation in some form or another is the ultimate outcome.
One or two further interesting things have come to light as a result of the judgment on the Orams case. I have been told today, by a well respected Turkish Cypriot here on the island that:-
The new government, that is to take up power tomorrow, have stated that, if the decision is implemented then it will mean the end of any talks between both sides on reuniting the island. Now I can't imagine that the EU wants this to happen.
The EU court is made up of senior judges from every member country. Again, I am told, that the Danish judge has said that he and therefore Denmark, do not recognise the judgment as being valid. Interesting outcome.
This whole business is a long way from over.
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