Front Page Headlines
Akinci spoiler upsets ‘order’
Turkish Cypriot leader formalises his proposal for joint gas talks through UN, EU.
- (CM commentator) Alper Ali Riza spends a morning with (TC ‘prime minister’) Ersin Tatar
- Women in hijabs say shouldn’t be excluded from Cyprus jobs market
They began from the ‘feasting’ on loans
The investigators on the (demise of) the Co-op bank are focusing on the period before 2013. Fiery details were requested a few days ago by KEDIPES (state-owned Cyprus Asset Management Company) while the dusting of reports on internal controls expose many persons.
- Akinci proposal for a joint hydrocarbons committee
- Martyred dead ends (Editorial on the negotiations process)
- Far-right: The electoral failure of Golden Dawn and ELAM
- Andreas Angelides: The coup, the invasion and the necessary anti-occupation unity (opinion piece)
- Tasos Yiasemides: Greek measures with a Cypriot touch (opinion piece)
- Yiannos Charalambides: The operation in Syria and why the Turks chose the S-400 (opinion piece)
The vicious cycle of antibiotics
Truth VS slander: The use of antibiotics on milk-producing animals in Cyprus. As soon as the news was out in Cyprus, there was great upset, but all the parties involved clamped down on it. Halloumi exporters are obliged to carry out constant checks based on the HACCP standard and it is not in their interest to process milk with antibiotics. Antibiotics in Cyprus are by 70 per cent administered to pigs and poultry and not so much on animals related to dairy production.
- Two schools of thought on approach – The target for targeted measures (against Turkey) seems impossible.
- Akinci caught everyone by surprise with his proposal on natural gas – Turmoil within the government.
- Chronicle: The July 15, 1974 coup: The Greek army, junta and Cyprus (free supplement given with Sunday’s Politis)
Turkey won’t back down
Turkish settlement in the Cypriot EEZ with messages on successful drilling by the Fatih. Briefing of the 28 member states by the EU.
- Pressure on natural gas and CBMs – UN: Don’t get stuck on recognition (of the TC regime).
- Open letter to (Greek PM Kyriacos) Mitsotakis on the EEZ
- Testimonies on Paphos’ resistance (during the 1974 coup)
- In-depth testimony on the 1974 betrayal
- Marcos Kyprianou: Erdogan will continue being provocative
- Photis Photiou: The missing are a tragic aspect
- Elias Kouskouvelis: The invasion in the EEZ could have been avoided
- A chronicle on defending the betrayed homeland (review of a book on 1974 events)
- Who threatens Turkey?
- A society that ‘makes things difficult’ for Erdogan
- Michalis Ignatiou: Again like a lamb led to the slaughter (opinion piece)
- Yiannis Spanos: The other coup (opinion piece)
He got the S-400 and is sending ultimatums
We are ready for compromise formulas and win-win solutions on Iraq, Syria and Cyprus, says Ankara with Iran, Syria and Cyprus as the receivers of the message.
- Interview with (TC ‘foreign minister Kudret) Ozersay: At the negotiations table with companies on natural gas management
- Why do mechanisms ‘bite’: The UN Secretary-General’s report makes it clear that progress on the Cyprob is imperative
- Bogus Turkish drillings: Voices intensify within the TC side on the idleness of the two Turkish drillships
- Main article: The elephants (on the delivery of the S-400 missiles to Turkey and regional geopolitics)
- (DIKO leader) Nicolas (Papadopoulos) between dilemmas: The alliance scenarios on the House presidency and 2023 (presidential elections)
Akinci’s proposal brings everything upside down
Akinci’s proposal on the creation of a joint committee on hydrocarbons brings everything upside down given the expected arrival by Lute in Cyprus but also the EU Foreign Affairs Council tomorrow in Brussels which will be called to adopt measures against Turkey. The government’s reaction is indicative: “Everything is up in the air” and “we had everything in order… now this has been unsettled,” a government source said.
- Event to honour and remember the black anniversaries tomorrow Monday
- Shock by the tragedy in Davlos
- Testimony on the TC bus incident
- 45 years later memories remain alive
- Analysis: Turkey-US relations in uncharted waters
Erdogan facing double punishment
From Europe and the US. US: Congress is declaring a war against Turkey. Top senators ask Trump to impose sanctions on Turkey for the S-400. Tomorrow the EU measures on Turkey on her illegal actions in the Cypriot EEZ.
- All of a sudden, new proposal by Akinci (with Ankara’s blessings) on a joint hydrocarbons committee – It was submitted to President Anastasiades through the UN. Akinci’s suggestion upsets the government and now everything is up in the air, says the government. Consultations at the highest level in connection with the new descent to Cyprus of the UNSG’s special envoy Jane Holl Lute.
- Checks proceed by UNFICYP in 18 areas believed to be dangerous due to mines
- Guterres sits idle – The UN Secretary-General, in reality, suggests nothing for the lifting of the dead end on the Cyprob other than pointing out “when you decide call me”.
Main News
Government caught off guard by Akinci’s proposal on hydrocarbons committee
Alithia, Haravgi, Phileleftheros, Politis, Simerini, Sunday Mail
Energy, Negotiations Process, EU Matters
OVERVIEW
All papers report on the proposal by TC leader Mustafa Akinci on setting up a joint committee on hydrocarbons among their main stories.
The government that did not see it coming is now in an awkward position given that the EU foreign ministers are to decide on Monday on a series of measures against Turkey, according to the papers.
Akinci on Saturday submitted through the UN a proposal to set up a joint committee for cooperation on hydrocarbons. The proposal was also sent to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, the EU Commission and the High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini.
All papers cite a government source that told the Cyprus News Agency that Akinci’s request for a meeting on hydrocarbons has now “left everything up in the air”.
“We had an order of things… but now this has been unsettled,” the source said.
The proposal concerns establishing a joint committee with the same number of members from both sides under the supervision of the UN, and an independent observer.
The proposal also outlines the structure, targets and methodology of the committee and includes the establishment of a fund and details on how this fund would be used.
Politis reports that Nicosia insists in its position on a joint meeting with Lute while the TC side seems to suggest a meeting between the two leaders. According to the daily, Akinci’s proposal has caused upset to the government and intensive consultations were launched at top-level in connection with Lute’s arrival on the island later in the month.
The Turkish foreign ministry welcomed the move and fully supported this cooperation proposal.
The proposal foresees that TCs and GC, as equal partners of the island, should cooperate on the hydrocarbon resources to which they have equal rights, including income sharing and benefit from these resources simultaneously, the ministry said in a statement said.
It also called on all interested parties, including the UN and the EU, and in particular the other two guarantor powers, Greece and Britain, to take this important opportunity, support this proposal of cooperation, and encourage co-operation on the island’s hydrocarbon resources.
The Sunday Mail reports that the manoeuvre, which has upset plans by the GC side for a leaders’ meeting under UN envoy Jane Holl Lute, also came just two days before the EU is set to take certain measures against Ankara in retaliation for illegal drilling for gas and oil off Cyprus, which Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has warned would backfire.
Simerini recalls that it had revealed on June 30 that Nicosia was mulling over the creation of an energy forum with the participation of TCs so that they are kept informed on all developments as regards natural gas but would not take part in decision making until after the solution.
Phileleftheros, reported in a related article, that according to EU information, the Fatih, that is drilling off Paphos, has discovered 170 bn cubic metres of natural gas. Nicosia, however, expressed reservations as to the news based on information from its own sources.
KEY ACTORS
Turkish foreign ministry
>> Welcomes and supports Akinci’s proposal since it foresees that TCs and GCs, as equal partners of the island, should cooperate on the hydrocarbon resources since they have equal rights.
>> Calls on UN, EU, and co-guarantors Greece and Britain to use this opportunity to support this proposal of cooperation, and encourage co-operation on the island’s hydrocarbon resources.
Ozersay: Varosha is no longer an issue to be discussed with GCs
Kathimerini
Negotiations Process, Territory, Property, Energy, Migration & Citizenship
OVERVIEW
TC ‘foreign minister’ Kudret Ozersay said that talk of the Monaco model concerning the north was an imaginative fiction.
In an interview with Kathimerini, Ozersay said the TC community does not eye positively this kind of approaches while he personally was against such a notion. As the son of a martyr, I do not believe my father was killed so that we can be ruled by others, he said.
On the future of the TC community, Ozersay said the TC side ought to seek partnership and wondered why is Anastasiades allowed to discuss new ideas with Turkey and not the TCs?
He said that the UN Security Council resolutions some refer to have been issued years ago when the sought solution by the two sides was that of a bizonal bicommunal federation.
If today GCs and TCs focus on another form of partnership, the Security Council will not be in a position to reject that new model, he said. Ozersay said the federal model has been tried and failed and that now new ideas ought to be discussed such as partnership models based on cooperation of the two communities in some areas, including two states under the EU umbrella but also the confederation model.
As regards the closed-off town of Varosha, he said the TC side is no longer discussing the issue with the GC side since things are nowhere near a comprehensive solution. Varosha is the Cyprus problem in smaller scale since it has aspects of property, territorial adjustments and administration he said.
The issue of properties must be made clear so that some properties are returned, some are compensated for their properties while EVKAF’s rights must also be secured. Ozersay said the issue of the closed-off town does not concern the administration status of Varosha since it is part of the ‘TRNC’.
On the issue of the natural gas, Ozersay said that the companies that signed agreements with the GC side should enter into consultations with TPAO, (Turkey’s state petroleum company that signed agreements with the TC side) to discuss how to jointly exploit the natural gas of the entire island.
He said it concerns a single source anyway so the two sides ought to decide on how natural gas ought to be extracted, how it would be marketed and how the proceeds would be used.
He also did not rule out Turkey’s operations gradually spreading around Cyprus.
There is no reason for this not to happen, he said, according to Kathimerini.
He also dismissed as baseless claims that there has been an increase in refugees to the south through the north arguing that some 15 days ago, ‘cabinet’ decided to introduce visa requirements for Syrian citizens to exactly hinder mass arrivals of migrants to the south by screening them based on the asylum requirements of the GC side and regulations of the UNHCR.
Our aim was not to harm the GC side, “on the contrary, we did what a civilised state would do,” he said.
Ozersay, the daily said, seems to be the person pulling the strings with all the diplomacy a non-recognised entity could exercise, with access to Ankara. After the secret dinner with Anastasiades on June 4, Ozersay seems to have been upgraded in the eyes of society, the paper said.
KEY ACTORS
Ozersay
>> Disagrees with Monaco model for north, arguing his father did not die so that TCs are ruled by others.
>> The federal model has been tried and failed, it is time for new ideas such as confederation or two states under the EU.
>> If GCs and TCs agree on another form of partnership, the UN Security Council will agree to back the new model.
>> Varosha, which is part of the ‘TRNC’ is no longer discussed with GCs since a solution is still not on the horizon.
>> Varosha is a scaled-down version of the Cyprob since it concerns the same issues such as property, territory and administration.
>> Suggests cooperation between two sides and all licensed companies, including TPAO, to co-decide on natural gas extraction, sale and share of proceeds.
>> Sees no reason why Turkey shouldn’t gradually carry out drillings around the entire island.
>> Says claims that more and more migrants cross to the south through the north are not true since the TC side has introduced visa requirements for Syrians to screen who is eligible to file for asylum protection in the GC side instead of sending all of them to the south.