President Ersin Tatar, Prime Minister Ünal Üstel, Republic of Turkey Ambassador to Nicosia Metin Feyzioğlu, Main Opposition CTP Chairman Tufan Erhürman, Deputy Prime Minister Fikri Ataoğlu, ministers, members of parliament, cooperative representatives and other officials attended the opening of the workshop in Nicosia Concorde Tower Hotel.
The workshop, organized to carry cooperatives into the future, started with a moment of silence and the singing of the National Anthem.
–Warm
Cooperative Companies Registrar Çelebi Ilık, in his opening speech, stated that cooperatives in the country; He emphasized that it means “production, solidarity, unity and solidarity, the Turkish Cypriot people”.
Ilık stated that they are working to move cooperatives forward with this awareness and said that they organized this workshop in order to carry cooperatives into the future.
Çelebi Ilık stated that they wanted to provide a road map to the government by turning the results of the workshop they organized with the support of EUL and EMU into a booklet, in order to fulfill the expectations of the cooperatives, as well as to fill the lack of training and equipment.
Ilık thanked those who contributed to these studies.
-Ataoglu
Deputy Prime Minister Fikri Ataoğlu also thanked everyone who contributed to the further development of cooperatives and wished that the workshop would be beneficial for all cooperatives.
Stating that they are working to develop cooperatives in every region, Ataoğlu said that after these studies, they will organize this workshop and create a road map together with EUL and EMU.
Stating that this is a first, Ataoğlu noted that they will create resources in the budget to move 219 village cooperatives forward, eliminate deficiencies and infrastructure deficiencies, and complete the technical infrastructure, and all of these will come to life next year.
Explaining that inspection will be easier and the development of cooperatives will be contributed to, Ataoğlu emphasized that the Ministry of Agriculture and the producers will contribute to further increasing production.
Ataoğlu stated that the aim is to contribute to the transfer of cooperatives from yesterday to tomorrow in a more valuable and conscious way and thanked EUL, EMU and everyone who contributed for their support.
-Erhurman
CTP Chairman Tufan Erhürman also said that he would like to thank the Registrar of Cooperative Companies wholeheartedly for the workshop.
Erhürman stated that the pandemic deeply showed the importance of local production and noted that they saw the necessity of production.
“We have to produce,” said Erhürman, pointing out the wide gap between imports and exports and the importance of the services sector and production in TRNC, a tourism country, and production at a quality standard and in accordance with the country’s conditions.
Erhürman touched upon the importance of solidarity and cooperatives in production in a small country like TRNC, and noted that cooperatives should be developed in villages.
Referring to the importance of inspection, Erhürman expressed his hope that the workshop would contribute to explaining and supporting cooperatives, providing training, providing resources, and especially contributing to the movement of politics away from cooperatives.
Erhürman also expressed support for the women’s cooperative and said, “Those who produce will not disappear, if we produce together in solidarity, we will all stand up together.”
-Feyzioglu
Metin Feyzioğlu, Ambassador of the Republic of Turkey to Nicosia, said that cooperatives are about being one, being together; He noted that it is about the little ones uniting and taking part in the world of the adults.
Pointing out the importance given to cooperatives by the Great Leader Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, Feyzioğlu said, “The workshop is important. Thank you to the organisers. “As the Republic of Türkiye, we support production and marketing of cooperatives,” he said.
Stating that he knows the importance and value that TRNC attaches to cooperatives, Feyzioğlu noted that marketing should also be planned and especially e-commerce should be supported when production begins.
Feyzioğlu stated that he would support the efforts to support cooperatives in the international financial cooperation agreement to be made between the two countries in the new period, and wished the workshop to be successful.
-Exponential
Prime Minister Ünal Üstel also stated that the Turkish Cypriot people are not far from cooperatives and said that the people stepped into cooperatives in order not to be separated from production and the island in unity.
Üstel emphasized the value and importance given to the villagers, explained the history of cooperatives in the country, and drew attention to the unity and solidarity provided by cooperatives.
Stating that they are making every effort to revive the cooperatives, Üstel said that they want to bring a modern management style to cooperatives with supervision and provide support.
Üstel stated that they saw once again how important production is during the pandemic, and noted that, as the government, they are pushing the possibilities to provide more support to production.
Stating that they have made the necessary initiatives to use domestically produced products in the tourism country TRNC, Üstel stated that they will continue their support in order to have a level that can compete with the world in production.
Üstel also emphasized the importance given to women’s cooperatives and said that they support their goals and will continue to provide their best support in order to move them forward.
Üstel thanked EUL, EMU and all parties who supported the workshop.
-Tatar
President Ersin Tatar also stated that cooperatives and cooperatives are of great importance in bringing TRNC to where it is today.
Tatar thanked all segments of society who contributed to the development of cooperatives and thanked the Foundations for protecting the existence of the people and the land, as well as the Cooperative Central Bank, the source of financing.
Tatar also pointed out the importance of auditing and noted that the registration office responsible for managing all these processes well has a great responsibility.
Stating that cooperatives are independent and away from politics, Tatar said, “If cooperatives are still standing despite the crises, many people have contributed to this.
Thanking and congratulating everyone who contributed to the cooperative, Tatar shared his memories about the work done during his father Rüstem Tatar’s time in office.
Drawing attention to the importance of local production in TRNC, the island of tourism and education, Tatar emphasized that cooperatives are worth gold and wished to increase the value of cooperatives through branding.
Tatar said, “Let’s support production, value employees, protect their rights and laws, and create an efficient structure,” and wished that the workshop would contribute to cooperatives and the economy.
President Tatar also thanked the Nicosia Embassy of the Republic of Turkey for their support to production and the country.
After the speeches, plaques were presented and the panels started.
