Mayor of Lefke Aziz Kaya made statements on the important steps taken regarding the CMC, the region’s open wound; on securing the cancellation of nightclub licences in the area; and on the work carried out since Lefke Municipality received the international Cittaslow (slow city) title.

Lefke Municipality, taken over with 50 million in debt and for long periods unable to pay its staff or buy diesel for its vehicles, is today carrying out important work and taking important decisions as it prepares a range of projects in the spirit of the international Cittaslow (slow city) movement.

As is known, Lefke Municipality formally joined the international Cittaslow (slow city) network at a ceremony held on 7 November 2015 in the Swedish town of Falköping. Lefke Municipality is accordingly working with all its strength to shape every project in Lefke — from infrastructure to traffic, from support for local production to the municipality’s duties towards the elderly, children and people with disabilities — in the Cittaslow spirit.

Mayor of Lefke Aziz Kaya said that Cittaslow is, in the broadest sense, a humane approach: one that involves raising people’s quality of life, that values production and tourism, and that seeks to create new potential by combining tourism with production.

“EVERY PROJECT MUST FIT THE CITTASLOW APPROACH”

“Among the 210 towns there are places that apply this very well and gain a great deal from it. So from now on every project, both in terms of social responsibility and physically, has to fit this Cittaslow approach,” said Aziz Kaya, going on to speak about the ‘Denizli Seafront’ project they want to implement first.

Mayor of Lefke Aziz Kaya gave the following information about the Denizli Seafront Project:

THE DENİZLİ SEAFRONT PROJECT

“We have a project for a 3,700-metre stretch including a walking and cycling path, a children’s play area, spaces to spend time in and a social facility. The idea is to make use of a seafront that has been neglected until now. The architectural design has been delivered to us. The architect who drew it up will finalise it and hand it over in the coming days. After that we will prepare the project in order to find the funding needed for the implementation stage."

“THE CANCELLATION OF PORT İSBİ’S CONTRACT”

Mayor of Lefke Aziz Kaya also made statements on the Radio Gazetesi programme on Sim TV. He assessed the other successful work carried out and the decisions taken in the region, which holds the slow city title. Commenting on the cancellation by the Council of Ministers of the contract previously signed regarding the CMC in Lefke, Mayor Aziz Kaya recalled that the question of the CMC waste has become a chronic issue for the region, the country and the Middle East.

Mayor Kaya described the history of the CMC up to the present day and the work of Port İsbi, whose contract was cancelled, as follows: “From 1975 onwards, when the company that had mined in the Lefke region for many years left the island, this waste remained there. An Italian company moved some of the existing waste for a while, then it too gave up and the site was left abandoned. The buildings, equipment and the entire plant on it were unfortunately dismantled and sold for scrap metal. And the site was left bare, exposed to every effect of rain and wind. Many cleaning attempts were made there. Most recently the state leased the site to Port İsbi for 49 years — handed over on an open-ended and not fully settled basis, on the understanding that it could become a harbour after being cleaned.

Over those eight years Port İsbi did not make sufficient effort there; it was observed that no adequate work was being done. Meanwhile, three years ago, another mining company from Türkiye obtained a mineral exploration licence in Cyprus. When that licence expired it was extended three times. In total it carried out two years of research. It then made a request to operate the mine.

“THE EIA REPORT HAS STILL NOT BEEN PUBLISHED”

Because there is a mineral reserve in Lefke large enough to be worth working and of economic value. As is known, about a year ago there was a strong reaction to this — because in Lefke it was perceived as opening a new wound before the old one had even healed, which is quite right. The reserve near Lefke Gazi High School would have been worked by open-cast mining. It would have meant the creation of a vast pit, just like the one we now use as a landfill, to the east of Lefke as well, and in particular the killing of the valley beside the stream that gives Lefke all its value. There was therefore a strong reaction. The company that came to prospect for new minerals also wanted to clean the site. When it asked to both clean the site and carry out new mining, Port İsbi began trying to do various things in a state of panic. It brought and installed a prototype of the system it was going to set up and showed it to civil society organisations and to the public. Five months ago it held a public information meeting under the Good Administration Act. It submitted its EIA report to the Environment Department. Although the outcome of the EIA report has not yet been announced by the Environment Department, there are reports that the EIA report is not adequate. Moreover, civil society organisations, having also consulted various experts, had expressed the view that this EIA report would not be sufficient. The upshot is that these eight years have been wasted. At a meeting attended by civil society organisations and by us, this decision of the Council of Ministers was welcomed, and this view was announced at a press conference the other day. In the period ahead we must of course be more careful, and the decisions to be taken must be shared with the region and the sensitivities of the region’s people taken into account.