Turkey plans to supply drinking water to northern Cyprus via a pipeline running 110km between its coast and the Mediterranean island, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday.
“The project should be completed at the latest within three years beginning in June next year,” he told a news conference in Nicosia alongside Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat.
“The [Turkish] government has given the necessary instructions to the environment ministry so the project can be finalized,” he said.
Talat, head of the self-declared Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, which is recognized only by Ankara, said his administration had also offered to provide water to the Greek Cypriots in southern Cyprus, under a project called “water of peace.”
“So far, we have had no reply to our offer,” he said.
The Turkish idea involves a high density polyethylene pipeline, with 80km of its 110km length running under the sea. It would be able to transport some 75 million cubic meters of water a year.
Cyprus is suffering one of its worst droughts in modern history.
The internationally recognized government of Greek Cypriot President Demetris Christofias has been trying to supply the southern part of the divided island through tankers bringing water from Greece.
The project has been dogged by snags and delays, sparking charges of incompetence. The water has not been distributed to households although the first of the huge tankers arrived off the south coast more than two weeks ago.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
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North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has unveiled a new naval destroyer, claiming it as a significant advancement toward his goal of expanding the operational range and preemptive strike capabilities of his nuclear-armed military, state media said yesterday. North Korea’s state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said Kim attended the launching ceremony for the 5,000-tonne warship on Friday at the western port of Nampo. Kim framed the arms buildup as a response to perceived threats from the US and its allies in Asia, who have been expanding joint military exercises amid rising tensions over the North’s nuclear program. He added that the acquisition