On September 19, TRNC Economy and Energy Minister Sunat Atun said, “The Economic Program is the work of the people of the TRNC”…
Ten days after this statement, we read a news report saying that Mr. Minister had made a statement to TRT about the Economic Program. We thought, “Since we prepared it and know about it, I suppose Mr. Minister is explaining the program to the people of Turkey.” Of course, the Turkish people have a right to know about it…
Then, about four days ago, this time Mr. Minister gave an exclusive interview to BRT’s Ankara bureau. In the interview, Mr. Minister explained that there would be no cuts to public employees’ pay, and that the cost-of-living adjustment would be distributed in a more sustainable and fairer way.
This time, we were the target, and Mr. Minister was explaining to us the program we had prepared. Naturally, A single voice rose from all the people of the TRNC at once: “We knoooow… We prepared it…”
Joking aside, we are living through days when Mr. Minister Sunat Atun’s remarks about the 2013-2015 Economic Program have been met with astonishment. Because, judging by the criticism being voiced, nobody knows about the economic program… As the examples above show, Mr. Minister must be aware of this too, since whenever he gets the chance, he explains to us the program “we prepared.” When I discussed this with opposition parties, I was told they knew nothing about the program. All right, they are in opposition—but what about those in the UBP? Do they know? Let alone that, I’m very curious how many bureaucrats at the Ministry of Economy know about this program.
On September 19, Mr. Minister said that an economic program to be proud of had been prepared with contributions from 186 representatives of civil society, and continued as follows: “The TRNC has, for the first time, prepared a program by drawing on its own human resources and having confidence in them. Be assured that only minor technical adjustments have been made to this program created by civil society. All the remaining proposals and ideas reflect the participants’ views—in other words, the expectations of our people.”
Frankly, I am very curious about who the representatives from these civil society sectors are. I couldn’t find any information on the ministry’s official website, www.kktceeb.com. But if Mr. Minister sends me the list of the 186 names, I will publish it here exactly as it is.
Congratulations in advance on the 2013-2015 Economic Program that we prepared, which the opposition parties know nothing about and which cannot be found on the ministry’s website…
By the way, I should mention that when I learned about the details of the Economic Program we prepared from the media, I said, “Wow, what a program we’ve put together—good on us!”…