Stating that that the “supply of fresh water is the most important issue of the region,” the President said  that producers are being supported, adding: “Let us look to the future with hope and protect our lands, trees and economic assets."

President Tatar visited the Cypfruvex Administrative Board chairman, Erdoğan Şanlıdağ and General Manager, Cemal Redif.    Also in attendance were Güzelyurt District Officer, Savaş Orakçıoğlu and Güzelyurt mayor, Mahmut Özçınar.

The President later visited the Citrus Packaging Facilities where he met with workers.


Making a statement during the visit, President Tatar said that he is staging a visit to the Güzelyurt region and that he had also visited the construction site of a 100,000 tons capacity Water Treatment Plant – together with Mr Özçınar.   “This is a very important project for the region that will purify 100,000 tons of water which will be conserved in a reservoir, from which water will be distributed with newly built pumping stations to citrus groves and agricultural areas,” the President said.


President Tatar said that this very important “fruitful project”, which has been in the making over many years, will benefit the sector in terms of economic and productivity levels, adding that “work is also continuing for the construction of a tunnel that will run from Geçitköy,  for the fresh water from Turkey to be piped to the region”.   The President added that the citrus season is coming to an end, and that despite the pandemic conditions, there has been “great effort by the workers” to collect and prepare the produce to the point of export  – “which I have had the opportunity to observe today.”   The President commended the producers and the workers at the facility.




“THE VALUE OF CITRUS IS EQUIVALENT TO GOLD”

President Tatar said that even when he was serving as Prime Minister, he had never taken action to impose any restrictions in the sector as part of the measures against the pandemic which has been continuing for over a year.  “Our citrus sector is very important for us. The value of citrus is equivalent to  gold,” he said.


President Tatar pointed out the great effort involved  from the point of picking the citrus fruit from  the trees, selecting for quality, dealing with packaging and exporting  and added that he has once again witnessed that “working  with the objective of overcoming the difficulties, the TRNC can look to a secure and prosperous future. It should be remembered that life is continuing, and economic activity and investments are continuing. All of these instil confidence to all of us, and offers us hope.”

Expressing his wish that with increased vaccinations, the pandemic period will be left behind , the President said that the citrus sector is also a “very important economic attribute for the TRNC alongside the locomotive sectors”.




“MOST IMPORTANT ISSUE OF THE REGION IS WATER”


President Tatar said it is important for every region to meet its own demands in terms of infrastructure and protection of the environment, adding that “the most important issue facing this region is water”.

“What is necessary is for Güzelyurt to be developed.  Making better use of  the productive soil, planting of more saplings and maintaining and caring for the existing trees will give hope to the people of the region,” the President said.

President Tatar underlined that support is being given to the producers and the sector, adding that important investments are being made in the region because of its great potential.




“PRODUCTION MEANS PROSPERITY”

President Ersin Tatar visited the construction site of the Water Treatment Plant in Güzelyurt, where he said: "It is very pleasing that such a comprehensive project will be brought to the TRNC.  Production means prosperity . . . with water transferred from the Geçitköy Dam and the operation of this project, a solution will be found to the salinization problem faced by the agriculture sector in the region."

Underlining that the support given to the producers in the TRNC will increasingly continue, President Tatar said that the increase of contribution to the country’s economy by the  producers will  pave the way for continued development of TRNC.