Turkey to open military hospital in Cyprus, replacing those closed after coup

Turkey is to open a military hospital in Kyrenia, as it begins to attempt to replace the 32 across Turkey which were either closed or repurposed following the failed coup d’état which took place in the country in 2016.

Speaking to Turkish television channel Ulusal Kanal on Wednesday night, the north’s ‘health minister’ Hakan Dincyurek said construction of the hospital is now “almost finished”, and that it will most likely be operational before the end of the month.

He explained that there had previously been a military hospital in the Kyrenia district, but that it was “inadequate both in terms of capacity and technical equipment” and could not meet soldiers’ needs.

He added that the hospital will “make a serious contribution, not only in the military sense and with regards to our soldiers’ health, but also to our country’s health system.”

In this regard, he pointed out that civilians will also be able to receive treatment at the new hospital.

“This new hospital will be able to provide service to our country, our people, our soldiers, members of the Turkish armed forces, commanders, and civilian personnel. A facility is emerging where military personnel, civilian personnel, and the public can be served,” he said.

The hospital will have a total capacity of 100 beds and has been in the pipeline since 2021, when it was referred to in that year’s financial protocol signed between Turkey and the north.

Various similar agreements followed, with the initial hope that it would be finished in time for this year’s July 20 celebrations, though this has been put back by around a month.

Turkish Deputy Foreign Minister Burhanettin Duran lauded the new hospital when speaking to the country’s parliament’s foreign affairs committee.

“Support is being provided in every field for the TRNC’s development. In areas such as hospital management and the training of medical staff, and cooperation, experience and knowledge sharing will be carried out with the TRNC, and scientific research programmes will also take place,” he said.

However, not everyone in the Turkish parliament was convinced the use of resources to build such a hospital in Cyprus was a good idea, with opposition Iyi Party deputy leader Turhan Comez offering his dissent.

He called on the country’s government to reopen military hospitals in Turkey “which house good, successful doctors”.

“In a region like the one in which Turkey is located, which is surrounded by risks and threats and surrounded by a ring of fire, the absence of military hospitals poses a great risk. The immediate reopening of military hospitals is essential for national security,” he said.

He added, “there is a serious lack of infrastructure and equipment, especially at the Gata [former Gulhane military medical academy, renamed as the Gulhane education and research hospital in 2016] in Ankara.

“There are reports that former military doctors working there are being pressured to leave. The new health minister [Kemal Memisoglu] should focus on this issue.”

A total of 32 military hospitals across Turkey were closed or repurposed in 2016 after the coup d’état which took place in July that year.

Following a government decree, all military health institutions were brought under the health ministry’s control, including the Gata and the Haydarpasha education hospital in Istanbul, which was renamed after Ottoman Sultan Abdulhamid II.