YDP says campaign is being waged against dismissed TRNC Transport Minister Erhan Arıklı

Erşah Sabit Yılmaz, Secretary-General of the Rebirth Party (YDP), said that an “operation to shape public opinion” had been launched against former TRNC Minister of Construction and Transport Erhan Arıklı and his party: he is being portrayed as the sole person responsible for the Filo Jet ferry disaster off Girne before the investigation has been completed. Arıklı was dismissed from his post on September 2.

According to Yılmaz, immediately after the incident, the minister intended to hold a press conference and present the known facts, but the prime minister did not allow him to do so. The secretary-general believes that, due to the lack of official explanations, people received contradictory information for several days.

Yılmaz separately drew attention to the timing of the dismissal: according to him, the decision was made an hour and a half after Arıklı announced that he would ask for his parliamentary immunity to be lifted and for the management of the ports to be transferred to the Prime Minister’s Office. He noted that in the political history of the TRNC, no minister had ever resigned or been dismissed on the grounds of political responsibility.

The YDP secretary-general also mentioned calls made outside the TRNC: former AKEL Member of the European Parliament Niyazi Kizilyurek called for Arıklı to be extradited, while one of the trade union leaders said that the former minister had no place on this soil.

The party says its priority is the search operation off Girne: “Our task now is not to engage in politics, but to find the missing people,” the statement said.