While the ‘government’ and trade unions in the north find themselves at odds over whether controversial repairs to the north’s Teknecik power station have fixed its issues, local residents have raised concerns regarding the health effects of the black smoke billowing out of its chimney.

Turkish Cypriot Ayios Epiktitos and Ayios Amvrosios mayor Ceyhun Kirok had called a press conference on Wednesday to draw attention to the potential public health effects.

“We need to question the reasons for the increasing number of cancer cases in our region. We have to ask these questions for the health of our people living in places such as Ayios Epiktitos, Ayios Amvrosios, Charkeia, Kalograia, Klepini, and Alagadi,” he said.

He added, “this is my duty and no one has the right to prevent us from questioning this. This problem has reached a level which concerns not only the region, but the entire Mediterranean.”

“There are those who argue that the smoke is caused by a lack of maintenance on the turbines or by using bad fuel. However, what is important is how to eliminate the harm this smoke causes to people and living creatures.

“We need to put a stop to this environmental disaster as soon as possible, not just on behalf of local people, but on behalf of all the island’s stakeholders,” he said.

He also pointed out the issues caused by power cuts, saying “we have patients on ventilators, and power cuts are life-threatening [for them]. Can we live with this fear every day? No one has the right to inflict this torment on anyone else.”

“We must produce short-term solutions such as improving fuel quality and changing filters. If these [facilities] endanger public health, we must stop their activities. With the mindset that ‘if our lights are on, everything is okay’, much worse days await us,” he said.

On Thursday, the north’s electricity authority Kib-Tek’s employees’ union El-Sen leader Ahmet Tugcu had said that malfunctions at Teknecik and the plumes of black smoke had been caused by the purchase of poor-quality fuel oil, which in turn damaged the generators at Teknecik.

With this in mind, he asked, “why was there no officer from Kib-Tek present when samples were taken from the ship on which the fuel oil arrived?”

He added, “why are they preventing samples from being taken from the fuel which arrived on July 26, despite El-Sen’s requests?”

El-Sen had in a separate announcement called for an independent laboratory to analyse the fuel oil which arrived on July 26.