TRNC Assembly approves supplementary fibre-optic protocol: 26 votes to 19

At an extraordinary session on 10 September, the TRNC Assembly approved a supplementary protocol on the construction of fibre-optic infrastructure in Northern Cyprus. Twenty-six deputies voted for the document and 19 against.

The protocol amends the agreement on financial and technical cooperation between the governments of Türkiye and the TRNC dated 24 September 2025; the document was signed by the Vice President of Türkiye. According to TRNC Prime Minister Ünal Üstel, connecting homes to the network will take around three months after the protocol is approved.

Üstel described the project as strategic and indispensable for the country. “We will make our country a digital island,” he said, adding that fibre optics are not only about fast internet, but also the foundation for e-government, data protection and cybersecurity.

The prime minister noted that it had taken around seven months to approve the document. “If the project had started seven months ago, fibre optics would already have been installed in homes, businesses and public institutions across a significant part of the country,” he said, stressing that the country cannot afford to lose another seven months.

The Republican Turkish Party (CTP) opposed the protocol. MP Ongun Talat said that the prime minister had signed a document he did not understand. Salahi Şahiner said that local internet providers had been reduced to the role of intermediaries on commission and asked why the project had not been put out to tender. The party also questioned the legality of discussing the supplementary protocol while the main document is awaiting consideration by the Constitutional Court.

The supplementary protocol was supported by TRNC Finance Minister Özdemir Berova, who called the fibre-optic network one of the country’s megaprojects, and by Erhan Arıklı, an MP from the Rebirth Party (YDP), who said that comments from relevant organisations and lawyers had been incorporated into the new version.