Turkish Cypriots to receive TL 90 million aid package

State-owned Ziraat Bankasi is slated to provide a TL 90 million aid package to the cash-strapped Lefkosa Municipality in northern Cyprus, an agreement meant to solve a year-long payments dispute with Lefkosa municipal workers. The dispute comes amid rising debts and a year-long strike by city workers that largely halted public services and led the local press to complain that the Turkish Cypriot capital had turned into a "trash city." The agreement was reached over the weekend after a meeting between Ziraat Bankasi General Manager Huseyin Aydin and Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (KKTC) Finance Minister Ersin Tatar in Ankara. The TL 90 million loan is an adjustment to a previous agreement between the bank and Lefkosa for a TL 50 million loan. The original number would "only pay the city's outstanding debts," Tatar said before the weekend meeting. "The loan we're going to receive is our last chance," he was quoted as saying by one Turkish daily. Tatar also told members of the press on Sunday that he hoped the new package -- to be closely audited by Ziraat -- would help the state resume municipal services and pay salaries that have been in arrears for the last year. The agreement also comes on the heels of a decision by the European Commission last week to award their own assistance package; Lefkosa will receive 27.2 million Euros for infrastructure projects and the nation's "economic integration" with Greek Cyprus.