Front Page Headlines
Green light for the five-party conference, they are looking for a date
Mustafa Akinci declared he is waiting for the recovery of President Anastasiades. Jane Holl Lute’s arrival in Cyprus for the next steps remains a mystery. Mustafa Akinci admitted to coordination with Ankara on his proposal.
- Black anniversary with forgotten victims – 45 years of Turkish occupation and pain for Cyprus. Two politicians, one GC one TC who lost their fathers on July 20, 1974.
- Fatih: If we find (natural gas) we will say it
- (Mobile) Telephony: Let’s unite Cyprus too
- OK (from government) to disabled war veterans
Manoeuvres without substance
Akinci, in a show of double standards, is following a tactic aimed at making an impression, with Ankara’s blessing.
- Ozersay threatens with retaliation on Varosha
- Forgotten and betrayed in massacre – The uneven battle of Aspri Moutti. Infantry regiment 361 counts 55 dead, 32 missing, 45 war prisoners, 42 injured.
- Nicosia-Ankara carrying out exercises in block 9
- Storm in the White House over sanctions on Turkey
- There has been a reduction in new recruits claiming to have a mental illness – The new law bore fruit.
Mobility only with common will
The UN sent a message to the two leaders that “there must be an agreement between the two leaders in Cyprus as to how to proceed before they address UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres”. A position which the UN Secretary-General included in his first report in September 2017 after the Crans-Montana shipwreck.
- 45 years later the wounds are still open
Cyprus ‘not competitive’
A ‘not particularly dynamic business sector’, according to first-ever report on competitiveness.
- Greek Defence Minister in Cyprus – (photo caption) Greek Defence Minister Nicos Panagiotopoulos being welcomed at an official ceremony on Friday. Panagiotopoulos is in Cyprus to attend events today to mark the 45th anniversary of the 1974 Turkish invasion.
Figure it out between you first
Guterres expects more from the two leaders to be convinced for a conference (on Cyprus). The UN unofficially points out that “the two” must agree on everything concerning the conference first and then file a common request to the UNSG. Given that the Anastasiades-Akinci meeting will take place between July 30 and August 3, the informal conference in New York will probably take place in September if it is made possible after all.
- The Cypriot people await liberation – The anniversary of the invasion.
- US Ambassador: We back Exxon and Noble – Part of interview with Alithia (entire interview in Sunday’s paper).
- Greek defence minister: We are concerned over the EEZ but we are not afraid and we are alert
- Erdogan is angry over the F-35s but sanctions (by the US) are most probably on their way
Main News
Akinci ready to meet Anastasiades as soon as he recovers
Alithia, Cyprus Mail, Haravgi, Phileleftheros, Politis
Negotiations Process, Energy
OVERVIEW
All papers report on statements by TC leader Mustafa Akinci that he would meet with President Nicos Anastasiades as soon as he recovers, as well as covering his speech to mark the anniversary of the 1974 invasion. The papers also report that a source within the UN said that UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is waiting for the two leaders to first agree between them on how to proceed before he gets involved.
Akinci, according to the papers, said among other things that the TC side wanted clarity from Anastasiades and that this was also a growing desire among many GCs.
He asked: “What does the GC leader want? What is his goal and what kind of a future does he envisage in Cyprus?”
Akinci said Anastasiades should stop making different statements at different venues since he sometimes calls for a two-state solution and other times for a decentralised federation.
He added that Anastasiades’ proposal on a parliamentary system with a permanent GC president and TC vice-president and rotating prime minister instead of a rotational presidency has created confusion.
All these questions need to be answered at the informal five-party meeting, Akinci said.
The papers also quoted a UN source telling the Cyprus News Agency on Friday that the two leaders must first come to an agreement on the way forward and then reach out to Guterres.
The source said the positions voiced by the two leaders on having an informal conference were not enough as “both of them still have their conditions and that is not what the Secretary-General asks for. The Secretary-General asks for an agreement between them on when, how, where to proceed,” the source said.
Phileleftheros reports that after Anastasiades’ positive response for a meeting with Akinci and a five-party informal conference on Cyprus, the TC leader is throwing again the ball back in the president’s court.
Akinci declared that the meeting would take place when Anastasiades’ health permits it, leaving the whole issue hanging in midair, the daily reported.
Akinci insisted on the issue of joint management of hydrocarbons, fully backing illegal Turkish actions in the Cypriot exclusive economic zone (EEZ), the daily said.
Alithia, citing government sources, reported that the meeting between the two leaders is expected to take place between July 30 and August 3 at the residence of the UN Special Representative Elizabeth Spehar, while the informal conference on Cyprus in September in New York since all stakeholders will be there for the UN General Assembly.
Politis reports that Akinci, with his response to Anastasiades, has given the green light for a meeting of the two leaders. The TC leader said that a five-party conference the soonest possible is also Turkey’s wish, the paper reported.
According to the paper, Akinci admitted that there was coordination with Turkey as regards his proposal on the natural gas and confirmed that the goal is to stop the Republic of Cyprus’ energy plans and for the two sides to proceed together on this matter.
Meanwhile, Phileleftheros, in another article reports that Turkey is causing a hot episode at sea, at least on paper, since she has announced she would be carrying exercises on part of block 9, the same days the Republic of Cyprus will also be carrying out exercises.
The Republic has issued Navtex messages for July 20-24, July 30 and August 8 covering a large sea area for exercises. The area covers parts of blocks 8, 9, 3 and 12 of the Cypriot EEZ. The Turkish exploratory vessel Barbaros has been in the Cypriot EEZ since May 1, conducting illegal seismographic research, the daily reported. Turkey has announced her navy would carry out exercises in an area of block 9 on July 20, 24, 26, 29 and on August 8, Phileleftheros reports.
KEY ACTORS
Akinci
>> Wants to meet with Anastasiades as soon as the latter recuperates to discuss paving the way for a five-party conference on Cyprus the soonest possible which is also Turkey’s wish.
>> TCs but also many GCs want clarity from Anastasiades on what type of solution he is after since his statements on different types of solution are confusing.
>> Insists on joint management of hydrocarbons & justifies Turkey’s actions in the Cypriot EEZ.
GC papers mark 45th anniversary since invasion
Alithia, Cyprus Mail, Haravgi, Phileleftheros, Politis
Governance & Power Sharing, Human Rights
OVERVIEW
All papers host articles, editorials and opinion pieces on the 45th anniversary since the 1974 invasion.
Phileleftheros, among other things, hosts a multi-page article on infantry regiment 361 which had the biggest losses during both phases of the invasion.
One article refers to a book by academician Charalambos Alexandrou on the regiment in question called ‘Infantry regiment 361: A chronicle of defending a betrayed homeland’. The author interviews 163 officers of the regiment in Cyprus and Greece and used archival material as well.
The daily also hosts an interview with one of the soldiers serving in that regiment in 1974, Polydoros Polydorou, who, at the age of 19, was among the war prisoners sent to Turkey and who wrote a book about his experience called ‘A prisoner in Turkey… with borrowed pants and barefoot’.
The regiment that fought in Kyrenia feel that everything was planned from the beginning since during a truce, the Turkish troops advanced and conquered a large part of what is today the occupied areas, the daily reported. They fought for about month in Mia Milia, Dikomo, Aspri Moutti, Alonagra, Sygharri, Klepini and Pachyammos in Kyrenia, with inadequate artillery and without any help, the paper said.
In another article, Alexandrou also narrates the conditions under which the regiment fought and includes narrations by soldiers who fought there.
Politis tells the stories of the deaths in 1974 of the fathers of two politicians, AKEL’s Christos Christofides and TC ‘foreign minister’ Kudret Ozersay.
Christophides spoke to the daily of his own experience of losing his father, a CyTA employee, who was killed by Turkish fire in Nicosia on July 20, 1974 while trying to restore telecommunications lines. He narrated the difficulties and the stigma growing up without a father and the way he had been treated in school but also on the psychological state of all persons who lost loved ones during the war.
The daily also reports on events around the death of Ozersay’s father who was shot during a raid of GC soldiers in the mixed village of Alaminos. In total five GCs and 13 TCs were killed.
The paper cites the findings of a 2013 investigation into the incident according to which GC soldiers attacked the TC neighbourhood of the village and took over an outpost that was manned by TCs . After arresting them, they lined them up against a wall and executed them. Ozersay’s father and uncles were among them, the daily reported.
Politis said that it had contacted Ozersay seeking for his input on the events but without any success.
Phileleftheros, in a political sketch on the front page, appears to criticise GCs choosing to cross to the north on July 20. It shows a car at a crossing telling a police officer: “We want to go to the parade to see Mr Erdogan, applaud Mr Akinci, eat together with Mr Ozersay. We are not solution-phobic, nor nationalists or racists.”
GCs and TCs assess mobile telephony CBM positively
Politis
CBMs
OVERVIEW
The paper quotes persons from both sides of the divide and reports that GCs and TCs eye positively the confidence-building measure on mobile telephony.
A week after the CBM was implemented, the daily reported that both GCs and TCs said that this measure has only positive results while some, mainly elderly persons, said they found the procedure complicated mainly due to their technologically outdated mobile phones.
But despite minor complaints, the majority seem to share Anastasiades’ position on the need for more CBMs until the Cyprus problem is finally solved, the paper reported.
Serkan from Kyrenia told the daily that mobile phone interconnectivity was long overdue and wished that this would bring people closer and that the island would be reunited.
Djemaliye from Kionelli stressed the practical aspect arguing that it was a necessity, citing a car accident years ago while she was with friends in Limassol when she had no way of contacting her family because she had no signal.
An elderly GC man, Mr Stelios, expressed the wish for the CBM to be the beginning for a solution that would reunify the island, the paper reported.