Kibkom North Cyprus Forum

We have had our reservation for Sunday Lunch at our favourite restaurant in Girne cancelled as they have been informed restaurants are not allowed to open tomorrow because of the election!! who makes decisions like that and why ? The Hotels are obviously not included so it would seem only the individual restaurants lose out. What nonsense!

Well we have lunch booked at St Tropez, they haven't said they are not opening, or is it just in town? Seems a strange thing to do anyway.

This law is through out the eastern med, from Greece, Turkey, Cyprus ect. Any establishment who sell alcohol will be closed until the voting is closed, normally that is around 18.30 hrs. So yes lunch will be canceled.

Sorry I forgot there is also a restriction of movement during the period when the pole open till they close.

We were planning to take some friends into Girne to show them around, but not necessarily do any shopping - will this "restriction of movement" have any effect?

Heard some bars/restaurants are getting around the restriction by declaring a private english/british function.

I thought restriction of movement was just for the census? People have to get to the polling station to vote so would be very difficult to police.

Sorry, you are all completely missing the point here ! they close all restaurants so that all the ex pats hang around the streets with nowhere to go so that we can all watch the brainless idiots, in non roadworthy jeeps, with flags from every orifice, driving like looneys with their hands stuck on their horns, for seemingly no reason at all ! the simple temperament of the Mediterranean idiot ! Of course the more east you go they start firing machine guns into the air from Toyota trucks so we are lucky !!! Perhaps eat lunch in the evening ?? (cynical old B'stard i hear you say but been here too long) regards Barry

Well still not heard anything from St Tropez to say they are not opening......and certainly will not be wanting an alcohol free lunch.

barrysnakes wrote:Sorry, you are all completely missing the point here ! they close all restaurants so that all the ex pats hang around the streets with nowhere to go so that we can all watch the brainless idiots, in non roadworthy jeeps, with flags from every orifice, driving like looneys with their hands stuck on their horns, for seemingly no reason at all ! the simple temperament of the Mediterranean idiot ! Of course the more east you go they start firing machine guns into the air from Toyota trucks so we are lucky !!! Perhaps eat lunch in the evening ?? (cynical old B'stard i hear you say but been here too long) regards Barry

Its the rule of the country so we have to abide by it.

Five years ago to the day (almost) Cyprus 44 had a similar discussion, and it appeared that the ban was alcohol until voting was over. Do probably that is the same this year. I am tyring to find out as I have an appointment at a restaurant, and I hav e not seen any notices outside any restaurants saying 'we are closed on Sunday) so I am going to assume the restaurant is open but not selling alcohol. Thankheavens it doe snot affect my caffeine!

Just been speaking to someone in the trade who confirms that it is the sale of alcohol that is banned tomorrow. If restaurants choose to close that is up to them, but it is not mandatory.

Hope that helps.

In the uk some restaurants do not have a licence and you can take your own
I normaly wait till 17:30 for a drink but I'm not to an hour

Maisiemoo.
You are correct I have got my facts wrong. We are registered to vote in Ozankoy but now live in Girne and had no problem last time moving arround.
But the alcohol ban will be in place in town in high profile places, in the villages you will find a beer. the restaurants out of town will be serving lunch as the police will be all guarding the polling stations, but you may find it hard to get a drink in Girne.

Thanks. I am sure it is comforting to know for those who love their Sunday lunch beer, that they can find it where the police are NOT on duty. I just love that idea.

How come you can vote Mel ? I know you are a citizen.

You are right Barry, but then again the further West you go the same brainless idiots take up TV prime time trying to persuade the British public that one is better than the rest! Don't quite know which is the worse but as they are all politicians anyway, what is the point in trying to make a choice?

Deniz1

We have been voting for over 11 years, the word Citizen will give you a clue. We hold Kimlik cards the same as a TRNC citizen.
When we go to Turkey we travel on the Kimlik and are able to stay as long as we like. We are in Turkey at the moment for 6 months we could stay longer but the car has to leave after 6 months.

I thought that ex pats could not vote when they got citizenship lots of people have told me that seems they were wrong then.

strange!!! the harbour is open and selling beer.........

Deniz-citizens can vote whatever their origins but holders of permanent residency cannot. Obviosly some of your friends have confused the two

butterfly wrote:strange!!! the harbour is open and selling beer.........

Yes - I've just had one a couple of hours ago!

I needed some alcohol before the football,about 4pm.Practiced my Turkısh ın case any problems.I was not even asked....wıne and brandy ın house 5mın later

Well don't know what this thread was all about.....went for our lunch at st tropez...fabulous. And first thing we were asked as we sat down was what we wanted to drink......wine and beer thank you very much!

Interesting that when I went to Bellapais there was a police car and the police went into Tree of Idleness. Not sure whether it was to check that they were not selling booze, or to get some of their own.

I would imagine that most of the comments are based on not understanding that it's not about us the customers it's about the Cypriot workers and their right to vote without being 'under the influence' either of alcohol or more importantly their employer. Who may seek to make threats or get them plastered to attempt some vote rigging of sorts... it's happened all over the globe.

In fact it's not so long ago that some UK employers sought to influence the voting of their employees with threats of employment prospects being harmed if they voted the wrong way so you can see how it might be aimed at being more democratic if employees are not having their arms twisted on the day.....

Ballot papers are supposed to be secret so how would they know who they voted for?

Same way as (all types of) insurance, betting odds and opinion polls work - sample or influence a large number, and the results can be predicted and/or affected....

Deniz1 wrote:Ballot papers are supposed to be secret so how would they know who they voted for?

It's more a case of 'no - you can't have time off to go and vote' or 'let's stay in have drink and talk about this' if the owner thinks the voters he employs might vote differently to how he wants them to vote.....

I know - you wouldn't think it possible but this type of gerrymandering by exclusion goes on - remember the US and the state of Florida's blatant exclusion of anyone with a name that was 'similar to someone with a criminal record'? This excluded shed loads of legitimate voters and all because they were known to be black and presumed not in favour of George W Bush who got elected? You couldn't make it up - but they pulled it off in recent living memory..... how difficult do you imagine it would be to achieve a similar result in the unsophisticated world of TRNC politics ?