Kibkom North Cyprus Forum

Sorry but I have lost the link to the thread where I made comment on the above. Promised to get back to you (somebody) when my friend returned from Turkey. He is back but sorry to say that the book has sold out and is awaiting re-print in Turkish. The English version is now with him and being checked by the printer before being sent to print. When it is cleared for print and released he will let me know and I can again publish news about this book. I think it will be a few months yet but it is worth the wait if you are interested in stamps or just in another view of the history of Cyprus pre and post 74.

Has the TRNC got a postal service? Still waiting for a letter sent in April and a new cheque book sent 25th September, Just wondered!!

TRNC postal service can only deliver mail that it receives. If your mail does not make it through Mill Hill sorting office in the first place then no postal service in the world could deliver it!

Quite often WHEN I have received mail, it has taken 5 days to come from the UK to Lefkosa and sat there for 3 weeks, before being sent to Ozankoy!!!

In the early days I used to have to go to Famagusta to pick up the odd parcel, after it was checked by customs, never seems to happen now:)

They always stamp the mail when it arrives somewhere, so you can track it's progress. I find 1 week UK - Lefkosa, 1 week Lefkosa Dipkarpaz, 2-4 days Dipkarpaz PO - my house. At least we have a delivery to the house:)

We can have a delivery to our house as well from the post office in Catalkoy but there is only one postman and have you any idea the size of the Catalkoy Municipality that he has to cover? How about from Ozankoy all the way out to Alagadi and that includes Arapkoy as well! Easier to collect it from the post office or have a PO Box in Girne and check it every two weeks.
How the current service came into being is a wonderful story but you will have to wait till the book is published if you are interested, in particular what happened in the years leading up to 74 and how the Turkish Cypriots were placed in total isolation - heart breaking and true with the proof in print as well.
If I learnt one thing from this book, its that stamps don't lie!

I get most things letters,low value parcels really fast.The expensive parcels full of New Next clothing X 3 however dont seem to make it here at all.All very annoying so ive now given up and buy the expensive versions from the South.At least I get to wear what I buy.

We buy a lot of goods off Ebay, from electicals to clothes, in the 10+ years we have only lost two Items of which the company refunded the money into my paypal account. As a lot of the goods come from China if the value is over £5.00 they give you a tracking number, when it arrives you have to sign for it only once did a item go downstairs to customs, but on opening the package was not charge anything.
If you are having items of value sent from the UK get them to register them, they will always arrive.

I did have four pairs of trousers for my husband tracked and sent to Girne.When i opened the parcel they said there was tax to pay and charged me 117tl on items that cost less than £100.That is quite an expensive rate of tax so I didnt bother again.

Having Items sent in bulk is not a recomended thing to do here, they claim it is comercial use.
I had a set of golf clubs sent from the USA to famagusta but there were two sets inside albeit the package was small, there was no duty to pay.
Lads at the golf club saw what we had bought so 5 members got together to order through one credit card, on arrivel they were all charged duty.
Back to your package of trousers, even if you paid £100.00 in the UK the duty here would be have only been max £17.00 as the duty is 17%.
You were quietly ripped off, was it the customs under the post office in Girne? I have never had a problem in the 20+ years I have lived here.

I have a parcel awaiting collection at Customs under the post office in Girne. I followed the instructions on my notification saying they are only open 09.10-11.30 on a Monday, Wednesday and Thursday.

I arrived at 09.20 this morning to find they had locked the door as they could not cope with the amount of people trying to collect parcels. Hmmm, if you open for more than 6 hours a week (sign on door states 09.00-11.00 Mon, Wed, Fri) maybe you could cope better!!!

All for the sake of paying them 1Tl.