Tatar to move to new palace in Ayios Dhometios on May 3

Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar will move into his new official residence in Ayios Dhometios on May 3, he said on Tuesday night.

Speaking at the opening of a new museum, he said a ceremony will be held on the day, attended by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, with the north’s ‘parliament’ set to officially move to its new building in Ayios Dhometios on the same day.

Of his current residence, atop the Quirini Bastion of Nicosia’s Venetian walls, he said he hopes the building will be “converted into a museum and opened to society”.

Tatar’s new official residence is part of a new ‘government’ complex, which is set across a total of 657,000 square metres and consists of a ‘presidential’ palace, a ‘parliament’, a mosque, and a park, as well as the planned courthouse.

The north’s ‘public works minister’ Erhan Arikli had earlier this month told the Cyprus Mail of his pride that it was his ‘ministry’ which had “administered this project from source to sea”, but the project has not come without criticism.

Serdar Denktash, son of late Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash, told the Cyprus Mail the near 5 billion TL (€138 million) spent on the project could have been better spent elsewhere.

“We need schools and hospitals. We need infrastructure which can support the population,” he said.

“This project is neither beneficial to the Turkish Cypriot people, nor is this the message we should be giving to the world,” he said.

He added that in prioritising the construction of the complex, the north has “put the cart before the horse, and we are now trying to move forward”.

“This project is neither beneficial to the Turkish Cypriot people, nor is this the message we should be giving to the world,” he said.