Fear of Water Shortages as Temperatures Rise

The breakage of the undersea water pipeline conveying fresh water from Mersin to North Cyprus is leading to water shortages.

Local municipalities have begun to use their own water resources and the local mayors are saying there is an urgent need for a solution to the problem, warning of risks of water shortages.

The undersea pipeline sustained damage four months ago reportedly by trawling nets.The Turkish water authorities said that the pipe would be repaired in August. Meanwhile a sudden rise in temperatures has increased demand for water.

In a statement to Turkish Cypriot daily ‘Yeni Duzen’, the Minister of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Dursun Oguz, said that the tenders for the repair of the pipeline had been completed and that the tender had been won by FIRATPEN, which was given space in the port of Tasucu to build the pipes. He said tenders would be announced for the pipeline to be installed by the end of this month and that production of the pipes would begin in June. According to Oguz, work to repair the pipeline is expected to begin in July and be completed in August.

The minister said there was no water problem at the moment and that domestic water resources were being used. He said they expected the water flow from Turkey to the Gecitkoy reservoir to resume in August and called on citizens to save water.

The director of the Water Department, Tarkan Çeki, told the newspaper that due to the pandemic, there has been an increase in water consumption with increased activities in homes and gardens. He said that many areas are facing water problems and that this was not only caused by the damage to the pipeline from Turkey, but there are also problems with the water mains. Çeki noted that he is talking to the local mayors and those involved in animal husbandry and that staff from the department are working on the spot to solve the problems before they get worse. Finally, he called on citizens to be economical with their water consumption.

Only the Mayor of Kyrenia, Nidai Gungordu, said there was no water problem in the city and that there had been a fault, but it was repaired quickly. He said they were in contact with the Turkish Water Authority (DSI) and that it was an advantage that hotels were currently closed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Yeniduzen

Eleven Arrested For Gambling at Hotel

Eleven people were arrested yesterday for gambling at the Jasmine Court Casino in Kyrenia. Casinos are not permitted to reopen until 1 June.

The individual who permitted the gaming to take place, a dealer and gamblers who were playing poker were arrested. Gaming chips and a total of 5668 TL, 400 euros, 1,320 US$ and £200 were confiscated.

Kibris Postasi

Restrictions on some Public Activities Eased and mosques and churches will follow on 24th

Following the Cabinet’s decision to ease restrictions on public activities, all public beaches, beach bars, internet cafes, bars, seated restaurants, patisseries, coffee shops are now fully open.

Hairdressers, barbershops and beauty salons have also started operating under strict hygiene rules and guidelines.

More restrictions are set to be lifted later this week and next week.

Children’s playgrounds and areas will be open as of  today May 22, mosques and churches will be allowed to open for mass worship on May 24.

Turkish Airlines Domestic Flights Start on June 4

Domestic flights will start on June 4 and international flights will begin on June 10, Turkish Airlines CEO İlker Aycı has announced.

Speaking on Cüneyt Özdemir’s YouTube channel, Aycı said the following: 

“Domestic flights will start on June 4 and international flights will start on June 10. Hand luggage will not be permitted to be carried on board, instead an extra 8 kilos will be added onto the baggage allowance. A handbag may be brought on board.“

The Turkish Airlines CEO went on to say that “I would like to say to all our passengers who buy a ticket, whether they want to fly or not, will have the right to change it free of charge until December 31, 2021”.

Michigan AG says Trump sent 'the worst possible message' by refusing to wear a mask in front of cameras during tour of Ford plant

Michigan's attorney general slammed President Donald Trump for "conveying the worst possible message" by refusing to wear a mask in front of cameras during his visit Thursday to a Ford manufacturing plant.

"I am ashamed to have him be President of the United States of America," Dana Nessel, a Democrat, told CNN's Wolf Blitzer on "The Situation Room" Thursday.

"And I hope that the voters of Michigan will remember this when November comes, that he didn't care enough about their safety, he didn't care about their welfare, he didn't respect them enough just to engage in the very simple task, the painless task, the easy task of wearing a mask when he was provided one."

"And so I hope that we'll have a new president soon enough who does respect people more than this president does," she continued.

Her comments come after the President toured and delivered remarks at the Ford plant in Ypsilanti, which has been repurposed to produce ventilators and personal protective equipment.

While at the plant, Trump said he did wear a mask during the tour, but "didn't want to give the press the pleasure of seeing it" when in front of the cameras. He showed off a navy blue mask with the presidential seal on it. An individual from Ford confirmed to reporters that the President had worn the mask.

So far, Trump has resisted covering his face in public or being seen wearing a mask, despite the federal government's recommendations to do so in public during the coronavirus pandemic. Speaking to reporters as he departed the White House on Thursday, Trump said "I don't know, we're going to look at it" when asked if he would wear a mask.

Earlier Thursday, Nessel had told CNN's Alisyn Camerota if Trump "fails to wear a mask, he's going to be asked not to return to any unclosed facilities inside our state." Asked if that was now the case after his tour, she said pointedly, "I will say speaking on behalf of my department and my office, that's right. That's exactly right.

"Today's events were extremely disappointing and yet totally predictable," Nessel told Blitzer.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, recently issued an executive order that includes requiring manufacturing facilities to suspend all tours. Nessel noted that Michigan waived that requirement for Trump's visit to the Ford plant.

Another executive order Whitmer signed this week requires anyone who is medically able to wear a facial covering when in an enclosed space.

As a result, Nessel has threatened legal action against "any company or any facility that allows him inside those facilities and puts our workers at risk." Following Trump's tour, she said, "I think that we're going to have to have a very serious conversation with Ford in the event that they permitted the President to be in publicly enclosed places in violation of the order.

"They knew exactly what the order was and if they permitted anyone, even the President of the United States, to defy that order, I think it has serious health consequences potentially to their workers."

On Tuesday, Ford said it had shared its safety policies with the White House -- including that everyone wear a mask "in all facilities, at all times" -- but added that "the White House has its own safety and testing policies in place and will make its own determination." 

Asked Tuesday if he would wear a mask on his visit, Trump had said, "I don't know. I haven't even thought of it."

"It depends. In certain areas I would, in certain areas I don't. But I will certainly look at it," he added.

Trump recently went maskless during his tour last week of a medical equipment distribution facility in Pennsylvania and his tour earlier this month of a Honeywell plant in Arizona that produces N95 respirator masks.

Child drowns at sea off Greece in first fatality

A child died after being pulled from the sea when a boat capsized on Monday off the Greek island of Lesbos, Greek officials said, the first reported fatality since Turkey opened its border last week to let migrants reach Europe.   

Separately, two Turkish security sources told Reuters a Syrian migrant had died from injuries on March 1 after Greek security forces intervened to prevent migrants crossing from Turkey into Greece, but Athens branded the claim "fake news".   

More than 10,000 migrants, mostly from Syria, other Middle Eastern states and Afghanistan, have reached Turkey's land borders with EU states Greece and Bulgaria since Ankara said on Feb. 27 it would stop keeping them on its territory.   

Further south, at least 1,000 migrants have reached Greece's eastern Aegean islands since March 1 morning, Greek police say.   

The Greek coast guard said the boat which capsized off Lesbos had been escorted there by a Turkish vessel. Forty-six people were rescued and two children were taken to hospital, one of whom could not be revived.   

Another dinghy with about 30 Afghans arrived on Lesbos early in the morning, a Reuters journalist reported from the island. Thirty-two others were rescued in the seas off Farmakonissi, a small island close to Turkey, the coast guard said.   

"This is an invasion," Development Minister Adonis Georgiadis told Skai TV on March 2.    

The latest migrant surge follows Turkey's decision to stop enforcing a 2016 agreement with the European Union whereby it prevented migrants from entering the bloc in return for billions of euros in aid.   

Turkey, already home to 3.7 million Syrian refugees, has another million arriving on its doorstep from a new surge of fighting in northern Syria and says it cannot handle any more.       

White flags

The EU's chief executive Ursula von der Leyen expressed sympathy on March 1 with Turkey over the conflict in Syria but said its decision to let refugees and migrants cross into Europe "cannot be an answer or solution".   

Von der Leyen was due to visit the Greek-Turkish border on March 3 with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis

Migrants on the Turkish side of the border, some holding white flags, called the Greek soldiers and riot police to open the gates to let them through, saying they had kids and women.   

A Greek government spokesman said a video circulating on social media showing a young man with wounds to the head laid out on the ground near the border was "fake news". Two Turkish security sources said the Syrian man had died of his wounds. 

"We call upon everyone to use caution when reporting news that furthers Turkish propaganda," spokesman Stelios Petsas said on Twitter.     

Petsas has said the migrant surge poses "an active, serious, severe and asymmetrical threat to national security".   

Prime Minister Boyko Borissov of Bulgaria, which also shares a land border with Turkey, was due to hold talks in Ankara on March 2 evening with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on the migrant crisis.   

Turkey's decision to open its border threatens to reverse an agreement that halted Western Europe's biggest wave of migration since World War Two, the 2015-2016 crisis when 4,000 people drowned in Aegean and more than a million reached Greece.   

There are more than 40,000 migrants still living on Greece's Aegean islands in severely overcrowded camps.   

More than 60 non-governmental organizations urged the EU on March 2 in an open letter to take urgent action to relocate them across the bloc and speed up the processing of asylum claims.

Erdoğan, who has long accused the EU of failing to provide enough support to Ankara in the migrant crisis, opened Turkey's border after at least 34 Turkish soldiers sent to Syria to monitor a crumbling ceasefire there were killed last week.

Information on Nicosia State Hospital Services

Health Minister Dr. Ali Pilli held a press conference to inform the public regarding the outcome of the fire that broke out at the Dr. Burhan Nalbantoğlu state hospital in Nicosia.

He said that the preliminary examination of the damage assessment has been completed and that apart from the Angiography and Cardiovascular Surgery department, other departments at the hospital will open for service.
Minister Pilli also said that the operating theatres could come into service as of Wednesday.

“The outpatient’s clinic, x-ray, laboratory, ambulatory care services, chest diseases services, infection services, dialysis, oncology and nuclear medicine will continue to provide services. At the same time, the Thalassaemia and diabetic centres will continue to provide services. On Wednesday the operating theatres will open but cardiovascular surgeries and angiography will not take place”, the health minister said.

- LGC