Prime Minister Üstel made statements about the electricity issue: ‚The establishment of an interconnected system between the TR and the TRNC will bring great gains‘

Prime Minister Ünal Üstel emphasized that “establishing an interconnected system for electrical energy between Turkey and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus will provide significant gains for the country and the people, therefore, they will continue to progress on this path in cooperation with the Motherland Turkey”.

Expressing that half of the energy needed by the country at the moment is produced by KIB-TEK and half by AKSA, the Prime Minister said:

“We need 4-5 years for electricity to come with a cable. In order to meet our energy needs, which will increase in this period, KIB-TEK must and will make investments. Only this year, we have created a resource of 635 million TL to invest in KIB-TEK. The tender for the establishment of a substation in the upper border region, which will cost 7 million Euros, has been concluded. We have included an additional investment of up to 40 megawatts in Teknecik Power Plant among our priority projects. Units that have not been repaired until now are being repaired by Türkiye. We are in a structuring effort to close the debts. Here I would like to emphasize once again clearly; KIB-TEK will live and continue to serve the Turkish Cypriot People.

KIB-TEK employees should be at ease and not rely on false information. We will not do anything to the detriment of them and our country.

According to the agreement signed between the CTP government of the period and AKSA in 2009, there is 4 more years left for AKSA’s contract to expire. However, we aim not to lose this time and to bring electricity from Turkey by cable for 4-5 years.

In addition, even if electricity comes by cable, the power plants in our country should continue to work in order to ensure the security of supply of the country and to be prepared for the problems to be experienced. So we don’t have any problems at this point either.

Thanks to this law to be enacted, we will strengthen our hand and act quickly, and we will meet with AKSA just like we do with other companies.

Of course, this does not mean that we have agreed with AKSA, everything is over. We are in talks with companies other than AKSA, and we will continue to do so.

The focus of all our conversations will be on a single subject; and that is the supply of electricity to the TRNC from Turkey by cable and an interconnected system.

As will be appreciated, this event is not a simple thing. It is strategic, it also has international aspects. Therefore, the issue is an issue that concerns the Republic of Turkey, which will provide us with energy as well as us.

As any private company or government alone, we will not be the only ones to decide on the introduction of electricity by cable.

KIB-TEK from TRNC, Electricity Transmission Corporation (TEİAŞ) from Turkey and the contractor company will conduct a feasibility study in a transparent way, they will decide together on the transmission technique and the project that has been decided to be implemented will be implemented accordingly.

Nobody should try to stir things up or muddy the water by saying, „In 2030, the fuels used today will no longer be used, so why will power plants using these fuels be built?“

Of course we think so too. We will take this into account in the contracts we make and the steps we take. Since both KIB-TEK and the private sector will not be able to find the fuel used today after 2030, they have to adjust their existing installed power and the systems they will install according to the conditions after 2030.

Considering the supply shortage of the fuel we use in 2030 across Europe and the Mediterranean, alternative fuel models will of course be evaluated and the possibility of the country being without energy will never be allowed to arise.

I should also point out that “taking measures so that there are no problems such as delays in the construction of the new Ercan Airport and the Turkish Cypriots are not harmed will be among the most fundamental issues we will consider when making a contract.

I would like to emphasize again; It is wrong to take actions that will disrupt the safety of life and property of the people, as well as their peace, by indexing the amendment of the Public Procurement Law to AKSA. We did not necessarily say that there will be AKSA, we do not say. We are making a legal amendment so that we can have a strong hand in the negotiations we will hold with AKSA and other companies for the benefit of our people and our country.

For the future of our people, in line with the energy vision put forward by our government, our main goal is to enable our country to have clean energy, to stay behind the energy problems experienced today, and to introduce other types of energy, in addition to the project of bringing electricity by cable, in order to ensure our energy supply security.

The project of bringing electricity by cable, which has been on the agenda for about 13 years since 2010, has not been successful due to different reasons. Our government has the will to take steps in this regard. We will take the necessary steps on energy, which is one of the most important issues concerning the future of our country, and we will eliminate this important problem.

We are determined not to leave our country and people without energy in the field of energy, which is one of the most important forces that will shape the future.

We look after the interests of only our country and our people, not of any sector.‘