Front Page Headlines
She is a miracle
Mother of a 23-year-old girl with Down syndrome said, Pınar taught me to be strong, and shared her experiences bringing up a child with Down syndrome.
- Sports without borders – MTG and Nea Salamina officials underline the bicommunal football match was the first step forward.
Sipahi (Ayia Trias) TSK back on the green 25 years later
Village Mukhtar Göksal Hacıhasanoğlu revived the football team of the village with the aim of helping the youth of the village.
- Erhürman mesmerized people with his folk dance – Erhürman displayed his folk dance talent during the Eighth Folk Dance Festival.
Disregarded whether alive or dead
The tragedy of the women labour force from third countries revealed in the dead body found two months ago. Vietnamese woman had been missing for 15 months but officials have yet to identify whether the body found is Dam Thi Hop or not.
- Growing security concern within the community – Experts emphasize the need to establish rehabilitation centres but people are concerned with the growing crime rate in the country.
- Nearly half of active labour force is in Nicosia – According to statistics from State Planning Organization, majority of business activity and majority of labour force are in the capital.
The road and the danger remain the same
The mountain road (Nicosia-Kyrenia), where a school bus collided with a lorry and three died 28 months ago, remains the same. Both the construction vehicles and the tourist buses use the road frequently and there is no improvement in terms of road safety.
Yet another crisis
Republican Turkish Party (CTP) insists on increasing the maximum threshold to terminating pregnancies to 14 weeks but both People’s Party (HP) and National Unity Party (UBP) insist on keeping the threshold at 10 weeks.
Article 90 like a sledgehammer
Not only provisional Article 10, but Article 90 of the TRNC Constitution is a major problem – it prohibits any agreements signed with Turkey from being challenged in the courts.
Main News
Sports without borders
Yenidüzen
CBMs
OVERVIEW
MTG and Nea Salamina officials highlighted that the recent bicommunal football match was the first step forward in giving the message, sport unites people.
Onursal Bozkurt from MTG and Ioannos Chrisostomou spoke to Meltem Sonay from Yeni Düzen and Anna Misiaouli from Haravgi in a joint interview.
The representatives from the two teams emphasized the importance of organizing a sports event to bring the two communities together. Nea Salamina representative Chrisostomou said this is the second friendly match organized with a Turkish Cypriot team. Nea Salamina played a match with Yenicami in 2005 and nearly four thousand Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot spectators watched the friendly including the community leaders.
Chrisostomou underlined that the Famagusta region is the clear winner of the match, adding that it was possible to give messages of respect and peace through sports where there were no flags, colours or obstacles.
Both MTG and Nea Salamina representatives highlighted they will continue their discussions for future events to be organized.
Baybars disputes Akinci’s citizenship figures
Kıbrıs
Migration & Citizenship
OVERVIEW
Interior Minister Ayşegül Baybars refuted Mustafa Akıncı’s claim that the four-party coalition gives 400-500 TRNC citizenship per month, reports Kibris.
Baybars said 2,173 people were granted TRNC citizenship in 2019, while 3,200 people received citizenship since the coalition government came to power.
From this, 1,594 are either the spouse or child of a citizen. Citizenship was given to 752 people due to marriage and the remainder became citizens as a result of fulfilling the criteria on the number of years working in the north.
She implied that the 220,000 population figure for 2015 recently referred to by Akinci might be incorrect and underlined that the Turkish Cypriot state failed in collecting and storing population data.
“It is necessary to look at what the source of the information on 220,000 citizens is,” said Baybars, adding that the claim 130,000 citizenships have been given out in the past year did not reflect the truth.
Crisis over abortion bill
Diyalog
Human Rights
OVERVIEW
Diyalog reports that the Republican Turkish Party (CTP) insists on amending the upper limit to terminating a pregnancy at 14 weeks in view of women’s rights but both the People’s Party (HP) and National Unity Party (UBP) oppose the proposal for medical reasons and insist on 10 weeks.
CTP MPs Doğuş Derya and Fazilet Özdenefe insist on the 14-week threshold in view of women’s rights. HP MP Dr. Hasan Topal emphasized the TC Doctors’ Unions’ recommendation of keeping the 10-week threshold in order not to endanger the life of the mother.
UBP MPs Dr. Faiz Sucuoglu and Dr. Ozdemir Berova in addition to agreeing with the Doctors’ Union’s viewpoint, highlight that the 14-week threshold, once implemented, will make the north a haven for abortions and attract many pregnant women from Turkey willing to end their pregnancies.