Ismet Üstüner leads Vigil Press Conference
The Vigil, despite lack of coverage and publicity, despite the change of venue foisted on us at the eleventh hour went ahead as planned. Our lead Ismet Üstüner was magnificent. He held a press conference on the roundabout and was comfortable and professional in his dealings with the press. Despite the very scant advance publicity given to our Vigil by the press, there was a good presence of the press at the Vigil for which we thank them.
As soon as we arrived, I was greeted by the policeman who had phoned me on the journey down and I have to say he was friendly and courteous. Despite my misgivings I have to say that although there was a noticeable police presence, we were at all times treated with courtesy and consideration by them and the policing of the Vigil was done in a very sensitive manner. It was made clear to me however that any attempt by me to cross over to the roundabout could cause me to be arrested. It was never my intention to deliberately provoke an incident and I believe my compliance with these “rules” proved beyond any doubt that our intention was only ever to have a PROPERTY JUSTICE SILENT PEACEFUL CANDLELIT VIGIL and this we achieved. Before I leave the subject of the policing I would like to congratulate the Chief of Police in Lefkoşa Mrs Pervin Gürler on the professionalism of her officers and would single out for special praise ASIL and ALI who were so kind to me previously and equally kind today.
The attendance although not as good as I could have expected was nonetheless very pleasing. The numbers of moving people was hard to count accurately but it was in the region of 40 people ranging in age from the elderly to the very young. Pemba whose Mum is one of the Tutuska victims had her daughter Tara with her. Tara is 3 years old and a star in the making. There will be many photos of Tara in the newspapers tomorrow. The residents of Bariş apartments were there in force, you will remember them from the auction on the 13th June this year, victims of the builder Tutuska, all are TRNC citizens or Turkish Cypriots.
I was disappointed to be the only Kulaksiz 5 victim at the Vigil.
Brad, whose wife is Sibel Hodge the author, was there. They are victims of Sea Terra Reserve. Brad told me that there is a two million pound sterling mortgage involved in his sorry saga. I also met Steve and Linda, victims of the Amaranta Valley scandal. What can anyone find to say that is new in this long running Gary Robb inspired scam? We all know the villains of this particular tale and sadly some of the villains are still walking free. Keith and Moira Hunt from Sweetwater Bay who have been having mega problems with excessive management charges and being denied the basic human right of being allowed to talk about it by having gagging orders placed upon them. Dorothy and Arthur, also of Sweetwater Bay, involved in a Breach of Contract action. Vanessa Pearce of Squirrel Construction in Lapta has an apartment. Vanessa has cracks which the builder says are not a structural problem and, when sewage backed up, accused her of causing the blockage. Inspection revealed that the sewage pipes were not connected to the sewage drainage system!! Jackie Ramscar whose builder Akan Soydas has forced her to take legal action to get him to transfer the title or pay her compensation. These are just some of the brave people who came to the Vigil today; people who are at the end of their tether, people who if dealing with honest straight forward builders would not be facing these problems. Good honest people who are being abused by an unregulated system and a Government that just does not seem to care.
Towards the end of the Vigil I met four Turkish Cypriots who were there just because they care. One of them told me he had seen me when I made my impassioned plea on GAK TV and when I wept it broke his heart. Whilst there are Turkish Cypriots like him there is hope.
This is just the first of our actions. If nothing changes it will not be the last.
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