GCC Press Review 24 Mar 2019

Front Page Headlines

Sunday Mail

Massive march, pressure on May

London sees probably biggest anti-Brexit protest yet as PM faces growing demands for her resignation.

  • Exiting Ledra Palace –UN soldiers finally give up on calling the crumbling former hotel their home.
  • Viewing the buffer zone as a land of farming opportunity

Simerini

“Harris, go away”

Opinion poll: 73 per cent demands the resignation of the finance minister here and now. “It’s everyone’s fault”: political earthquakes under the ruins of the Co-op. Popular demand for cleansing and for criminal responsibilities to be attributed.

  • Incredible mess up with the mobile telephony CBM – Legal confusion with the Anastasiades-Akinci agreement. The measure is left hanging in the air, reactions within Cyprus, obstacles from Turkey.
  • The Turkish ‘Trojan Horse’ of energy: Analysis by Yiannos Charalambides
  • (Cyprus-Greece-Turkey) Trilateral with multiple readings
  • Fixed match from Akinci in Pyla – He wanted to cross to the free areas with the flag of the pseudostate but was caught by a last minute phone call.
  • They departed to… meet Allah but they vote for Erdogan –Preparations for rigging at the municipal elections. Over 1,5 million voters changed district.
  • Theodoros Tsakiris: The importance of (US Secretary of State Mike) Pompeo at the trilateral

Politis

Building permits within the same day

A new practice will come into force this year whereby licenses for low risk investments will be issued on the same day. Planning mistakes, pressure and the low building co-efficient culture led to the anarchic development of our cities. Yes to deputy ministries to take on the interior ministry’s competencies but not now. The criteria for renewal of residence permits for migrants will certainly change.

  • Interview: (Famagusta mayor) “The President is reluctant as regards Famagusta”
  • Nature: The lake of Ayios Loucas in Famagusta

Phileleftheros

Efforts for meeting with Trump

Consultations for Anastasiades’ visit to Washington. Liquefied natural gas (LNG) a priority for US and Cyprus. High on the agenda also the EastMed pipeline option.

  • Reaction of the EU28 to Turkish games. (Turkey) excluded Cyprus from an agreement – The EU28 decided suspension of talks and withdrawal of the EU from the negotiations table of the fifth round of the Aviation Agreement with Turkey on the suggestion of the European Commission as a result of the positions Ankara submitted to the Association Council.
  • Greece-Cyprus-US established cooperation
  • Municipal elections and Erdogan’s bet
  • Stefanos Constantinides: The trilateral (opinion piece)
  • Christos Iacovou: The assassination of Theofilos Georgiades (opinion piece)

Kathimerini

Race for an (LNG) terminal

Cyprus’ prospects for turning into an energy hub are enhanced due to the summit in Israel.

  • (Foreign Minister) Nicos Christodoulides: “We are being approached as a security provider”
  • Turkey’s Gordian knot policy – Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu sent mixed messages to his Greek counterpart Giorgos Katrougalos on the Cyprob.
  • From Pyla to Antalya – Based on the principle of political equality a second match ought to have been scheduled in the occupied areas, according to Akinci.
  • Opinion: Andreas Paraschos –From Granada to Kyrenia

Haravgi

The far-right, a crutch of the government

Those who present themselves today as the people’s champions and protectors, side with big  capital during every crisis, says AKEL. The party also exposed ELAM’s hypocrisy, noting that while it is trying to pass off as an anti-systemic party, in every critical moment, it becomes Anastasiades’ and DISY’s most valuable crutch. AKEL recalls how (ELAM) tipped the scale in their favour during the presidential elections and how it willingly voted all the bills that broke up the Co-op.

  • Niyazi Kizilyurek: “There is no other way other than a federal Cyprus”
  • Why Anna Agathangelou proposed Sevgul (Uludag) for the Nobel Peace Prize
  • They played and spoke the language of peace – Nea Salamina and Magusa TG wrote history and proved that people have nothing to quarrel over. This is the people of Cyprus, of peace. The Nea Salamina-Magusa football match was only the beginning.
  • Always against the inhumane face of racism (bicommunal rally organised by AKEL against racism)

Alithia

The Cyprus problem at a complete standstill

The long period for better preparation does not yield any result or benefit. The ‘closed ears’ Giorgos Katrougalos faced in Antalya and Lute’s ‘disappearance’ show that nothing is progressing and that the minimum requirement, to draft the Terms of Reference (ToR), does not seem possible anymore.

  • Analysis: Katrougalos’ special mission to Antalya
  • Pyla: The mixed village with the special status
  • Looking back to the past: Two communities, one centre (story on the Cyprus football championship when GC and TC teams played each other or with mixed teams)
  • Turkey is now giving explanations on (Defence Minister Hulusi) Akar’s statements, attributing them to an error

Main News

Anastasiades-Trump meeting on the cards

Phileleftheros
Regional/International Relations, Energy

OVERVIEW

Nicosia and Washington are in consultations to set up a meeting between President Nicos Anastasiades and US President Donald Trump.

According to Phileleftheros, this was discussed during Anastasiades’ meeting with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Jerusalem earlier in the week on the sidelines of the Greece, Cyprus, and Israel trilateral summit. Diplomatic consultations are underway to set a date for the meeting, Phileleftheros reports.

The US set as priority the construction of a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in Vassiliko depending on the quantity of the discovered reserves, the daily reported, adding that the LNG will come from Cypriot and Israeli reserves as well as from other countries.

It is obvious that this choice favours Cyprus which, in that way, will have more choices as regards utilisation of its natural gas, the daily said.


Akinci knew from the get-go match was to be played in the south

Simerini
CBMs

OVERVIEW

TC leader Mustafa Akinci knew from the beginning the bicommunal match between Nea Salamina and Magusa was to take place in the government-controlled areas but presented himself as the victim blaming the UN after his plans of going to the event with his car flying the flag of the pseudostate were thwarted following a last-minute phone call.

Citing sources, Simerini reports that Akinci’s problem was not the location of the football pitch or the so-called security measures the UN allegedly could not provide, as per his claims. His problem, the daily said, was that he was caught at the last moment due to a telephone call and his plans to upgrade the regime taking advantage of an event for peace and co-existence were thwarted.

Akinci, according to Simerini, knew of the arrangements and where the field was from the beginning and was planning on going to the pitch with his limousine flying the so-called flag of the illegal regime he leads. He reacted only after his spokesman Baris Burcu was told over the phone that he could not cross to the free areas with his illegal symbol, the daily said, forcing him to make up excuses to justify the inexcusable, even that he was allegedly securing the rights of the new TC generation.


UNFICYP soldiers moved from crumbling Ledra Palace

Sunday Mail
External Security

OVERVIEW

The British contingent of the UNFICYP has almost finished setting up its new camp on the grounds of the Ledra Palace hotel as the hotel itself has become uninhabitable after taking up residence there in the aftermath of the Turkish invasion 45 years ago.

The move of around 200 UN soldiers into prefabricated buildings is 85 per cent complete but there will be no change to the status of the hotel since it remains under UN control, the paper reported.

Sources told the Sunday Mail that the hotel, which is majority owned by the Church, would not be turned into a museum once the British contingent moved out as some have claimed.

There is no question of the Church getting the hotel back, the sources said, adding that the current political climate would not be conducive to such a move and the TC side has already raised objections to a possible return of the hotel to the GC side.

The UN, sources said, will still be using the entire ground floor for bicommunal events, meetings and gatherings, reported the Sunday Mail.


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