The Local Employment Support Fund was established to increase the employment of TRNC citizens, protect the local workforce, and encourage employers to focus on local employment. Its purpose and scope of use are clear.
However, practices reflected in the public sphere indicate a departure from the fund’s original purpose. One of the fund’s significant revenue sources is the 5% provident fund deduction from third-country workers. Using this resource to encourage the employment of foreign workers contradicts the fund’s raison d’être.
Furthermore, while many businesses employing thousands of TRNC citizens cannot benefit from these supports, providing preferential support to certain sectors undermines the principle of equality, distorts competition, and raises concerns about the unfair use of public resources.
We are not against supporting the industrial or tourism sectors; this should be done through general budget resources, not the Local Employment Support Fund. However, the beneficiaries of the Local Employment Support Fund should include all workplaces employing TRNC citizens, regardless of sector, in line with the fund’s purpose.
Transparency, accountability, equality, and the rule of law should be fundamental principles in the use of public resources. We call on the government to use the Local Employment Support Fund in accordance with its intended purpose.
Our struggle is not with any particular sector; it is against unscrupulousness, injustice, and the misuse of public resources.
The Local Employment Support Fund is for local employment. Any application outside of this is contrary to both the spirit of the fund and the public’s sense of justice.
Turkish Cypriot Chamber of Commerce
“Rights are not given, they are won through struggle.”
