Latest / penna! / EIGHT MODERN SCHOOLS COULD HAVE BEEN BUILT WITH THE 40,000 ‘CANDIES’ ALLOCATED TO SOCIAL SECURITY RECIPIENTS…

Transcript

EIGHT MODERN SCHOOLS COULD HAVE BEEN BUILT WITH THE 40,000 ‘CANDIES’ ALLOCATED TO SOCIAL SECURITY RECIPIENTS… · penna!

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: An election poll was published in a newspaper owned by a Turkish company that operates a power station in the north of Cyprus.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: The headline smacked of a perception operation, which portrayed CTP and UBP as though they are going neck and neck.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: According to the poll, in the sixth December elections, CTP will receive thirty seven point five percent of the vote.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: UBP, meanwhile, is currently at thirty three point one percent.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: The message the newspaper wishes to convey is clear.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_00: The political balance is shifting.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: The intent behind such manipulative headlines in our media has been well known since the nineteen nineties.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: First, the opposition party likely to come to power is shown slightly ahead in the polls.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_00: Subsequently, polls are published showing that the government party supported by the newspaper is closing the gap.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_00: In the final days of the campaign, however, these polls show the UBP surging ahead, gaining momentum and winning the election.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: In this way, the electorate's vote is steered by a credible narrative.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: It is well known that this newspaper, under different ownership in the past, assumed the same role, publishing polls using the same method to support the UBP.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: These days, the newspaper's favourite is Unal Ustell.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: Time and again he makes the front page with statements that have not a shred of news value.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: So what has Mr Unal done to deserve this support?
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: Many things, of course.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: Just take a look around.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: There are no complaints from either the operator of Erkan or the owner of Ax.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: Our two major business partners are benefiting from the stability provided by Mr Unal.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_00: These foreign companies which hold the lion's share of the media pie, are allocating funds to this venture and managing to keep their relations with the government stable thanks to these affiliates.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: That's what owner controlled media is all about.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_00: Those coming here to make investments from abroad, rather than focusing on their core investments, are first and foremost preoccupied with the idea of having a newspaper here.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: This is why both the company that generates more than half of the electricity produced in the country and sells it to Kahib Tech in cash.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_00: And the foreign capital with tourism investments here are diving headfirst into our media.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: It is certainly not because there is a lack of news in the TRNC.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: It seems that as we head towards the elections, we will witness many more tricks from this owner controlled media.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: However, I do not believe that a media power intent on repeating what we experienced in the nineteen nineties will be able to exert the same level of influence in the elections as before.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_00: These days at least we have social media.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: There is independent journalism on the internet.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_00: For this reason, it seems highly unlikely that the UBP will be able to consolidate its votes solely through media support.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: Unal Ustal and the foreign backed mastermind organizing these operations are well aware of this.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_00: That is why UBP, drawing inspiration from the party's past, has now put new experiments into action.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: I recall the You've Been Hired documents distributed to voters in the nineteen nineties.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_00: Voters would head to the ballot box with notes in their pockets saying Go and start working at such and such an office on Monday.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_00: Back then, none of these worked.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: Let's see if they'll work now.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_00: It seems the UBP has thrown itself into the elections with a desperate fervor, adding even more to these old habits.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: Unal Ustal has already put its expertise in the field of divvying up, to use on the ground.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_00: Every day it's pulling new doves out of a hat.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: Having brought its opponents, Suku Olu and Tachoi to heel, it has consolidated its power within the party and turned its attention directly to the voters.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, it's a bit of a help yourself affair, but no one seems particularly bothered by it.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: No one is concerned about the elections being tainted, nor does anyone care about the plundering of the state in this manner.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yet what matters more than who wins the elections is being able to hold a proper election.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_00: Unal Ustel with this plunder methodology is actually demeaning the voter.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_00: It is showing disrespect for their human rights.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_00: It is treating the voter's vote as if it were for sale.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_00: Although the twenty twenty six budget came into force in January, Unal Ustel has timed the distribution of gains to coincide with the eve of the election.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: He has left everything to the last three months.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_00: He is handing things out nonstop.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: Are you a farmer?
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_00: Are you in tourism or are you a shopkeeper?
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_00: Come on, let's give you a loan at twenty percent interest.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: You'll pay it back over thirty six months.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: Just submit your application and wait.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_00: We've also got our grants, thank goodness.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_00: We've set aside one hundred and seventy million for this.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_00: We'll distribute fifty million of that to young entrepreneurs.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: That's not all.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: We're going to recruit two hundred new police officers.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_00: Apply, but you'll have to wait.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_00: Do you want a rural plot of land?
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: That's easy too.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: Just wait for the elections.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_00: We'll also build five thousand social housing units.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_00: It all occurred to us in the last three months of twenty twenty six.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_00: Oh UBP is also taking credit for investments such as schools and hospitals.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yet for many of these, they didn't even draw up the plans, carry out the construction, or manage the projects themselves.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_00: Ankara provided the funding, Ankara managed the work, supervised it, completed it, and handed it over.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_00: The very act of taking credit for these investments shows that they are far outside the realm of honest politics.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_00: However, in my view, the biggest bribe like move will be the distribution of forty thousand lira each to Social Security beneficiaries.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_00: Social Security beneficiaries will have the money in their pockets six days before the election.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_00: Yet with that money, six new schools could have been built.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: Let's see.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_00: These elections will be a test for voters regarding bribes.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_00: Either the power of money will prevail or the voter will say You can't fool me with money.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_00: Source eight modern schools could have been built with the forty thousand candies allocated to Social Security recipients.