Front Page Headlines
Party leaders are breaking the wings of those going rogue
Parliament seats will belong to the parties and not to the MPs. On the occasion of the regulation on the 56th seat, the parties will also deal with the headache of MPs that break away.
- The flag is being returned – The issue is on its way to being resolved by the Lysi refugees.
- Crowd (of companies) lining up for the LNG (tender competition)
Oxygen to the procedure
Lute is back with letters ahead of the continuation (of the procedure on the Terms of Reference) in New York. She expresses the wish for a new meeting.
- The TCs want back their quarter in Larnaca
- The occupied areas are a ‘goldmine’ for the Russians
- Memories on black and white paper – From Famagusta to Ayia Triada (GC refugees from Famagusta have had returned some of their photos, kept for 45 years by Savvas Liasis in Ayia Triada).
Prospects for a new round of talks on the Cyprus problem
The UN Secretary-General’s envoy Jane Holl Lute expressed her wish for a meeting with the two leaders the soonest possible in letters she sent to both of them. In the letters, she notes that there has been serious progress and there are prospects for talks.
- Twenty-five companies are interested in the sale of liquefied natural gas
MPs call for harsh fines
‘Drunk drivers are potential killers,’ says deputy as House delves into deterrence.
- TC side urged not to politicise flag theft by teen boy
Lute has spoken…
The UNSG’s special envoy Jane Holl Lute has broken her silence. She sees serious steps of progress and prospects. In letters to the two leaders, she welcomes their stance and constructive effort, assesses that prospects have been opened and asks for new meetings the soonest possible. Government and DISY satisfied.
- They are calling for the suspension of church liturgies – Nationalist voices in the occupied areas after the Turkish flag incident in Lysi. Efforts to defuse the situation continue. The 16-year-old has recognized the consequences of his actions.
- Interest by energy giants on natural gas
- Famagusta Municipality will appeal the election of (Kythrea Mayor) Petros Kareklas as chairman of the Committee of Occupied Municipalities
Main News
Government satisfied with Lute’s positive assessment
Alithia, Haravgi, Cyprus Mail, Phileleftheros, Politis
Negotiations Process
OVERVIEW
The dailies report that the government found the letter sent by UN special envoy Jane Holl Lute to President Nicos Anastasiades as encouraging as regards the future of the procedure.
According to the dailies, Government spokesman Prodromos Prodromou announced on Friday that Anastasiades received an encouraging message from Lute. As a result of the consultations held during her recent visit to Cyprus, Lute said serious steps of progress were made and therefore prospects for the way forward have opened up in a constructive way
Prodromou also stressed the importance of Lute expressing her gratitude to Anastasiades for confirming his personal commitment to the efforts for an agreement on the Terms of Reference (ToR).
According to Prodromou, Lute also thanked Anastasiades for his very productive commitment to the efforts underway, expressing the will for a new meeting the soonest.
Prodromou said the fact Lute confirmed that efforts will continue is particularly significant “with regard to our goal which is the resumption of the negotiations.”
The papers also reported that TC leader Mustafa Akinci has received a similar letter by Lute.
Phileleftheros reports that Nicosia believes the next stage will be in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly where Lute is expected to hold meetings with the two leaders but also with the guarantor powers in order to record their positions on the possibility of an informal conference.
During those contacts, it will be decided whether a joint meeting between the two leaders and UN Secretary-General can take place, which will mark the beginning of a new process, the daily reports.
According to Alithia, Lute’s letter has taken even the diplomatic circles by surprise since this is not a random move but another form of encouragement by the UN to the two leaders not to let the momentum be lost but also what has been achieved during Lute’s last visit on the island.
The same circles assess that Lute’s letter is also an indirect but clear response to what Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said, that the ToR must be agreed on after and not before an informal conference.
Meanwhile, most dailies also report that a UK High Commission spokesperson in Cyprus said on Friday that the UK fully supports UN Security Council resolutions on Varosha. Invited by the Cyprus News Agency to comment on statements by Cavusoglu that preparations are underway for the opening of the fenced-off city of Varosha, the spokesperson said that the fate of Varosha is the subject of UN Security Council Resolutions (550 and 789) that the UK fully supports. “These make clear that ‘attempts to settle any part of Varosha by people other than its inhabitants [are] inadmissible’,” the spokesperson said.
KEY ACTORS
Prodromou
>> Lute’s letter to Anastasiades sent an encouraging message as regards the GC side’s goal for the resumption of the talks.
>> Satisfied that Lute acknowledged Anastasiades’ personal commitment to the efforts for an agreement on the ToR.
UK High Commission
>> The UK fully supports UNSC resolutions on Varosha that make clear that attempts to settle any part of Varosha by people other than its inhabitants are inadmissible.
Prodromou: TCs should not politicise flag incident
Alithia, Haravgi, Cyprus Mail, Phileleftheros, Politis
Human Rights, Internal Security
OVERVIEW
Efforts are underway to return the flag taken from a primary school in Lysi last week by a 16-year-old GC boy as the government urges the TC side not to politicise the incident, the papers reported on Saturday.
Government Spokesman Prodromos Prodromou on Friday urged the TC side to refrain from politicising and taking advantage of the incident.
“Any potential attempts from the occupied areas to politicise and take advantage of the incident would be very provocative at a time when the occupation regime and Turkey are making so many grossly illegal moves, seeking to perpetuate the occupation and the division and to create new unacceptable faits accomplis,” Prodromou said.
While no one can compromise with the faits accomplis and with symbols of the occupation, “the occupation cannot be dealt with through individual actions and emotions,” he said.
The spokesman said the emotional charge was understandable but efforts to address occupation and terminate it must be based on rational thinking.
“Beyond the fact that the young man put himself in danger, caution is needed as there is also the risk to put into question our ability to hold services in our churches in the occupied territories,” Prodromou said.
Phileleftheros reports that beyond the illegal ‘arrest warrant’ issued against the 16-year-old, a demand has been submitted through the UN for the return of the flag and the photo of Rauf Denktash that the teen also took from the school.
According to Alithia, nationalist voices within the TC community call for a suspension of the church liturgies while the TC residents of Lysi have realised that the teen acted spontaneously and are not giving any continuation to the matter. The paper reports that they had helped for the church liturgy to take place in the village, and after the incident, they have been ‘bullied’ by those who were against their actions. The paper also reports that Lysi refugees have given reassurances the teen, who is a very active member of a football team’s fan club, has nothing to do with far-right ELAM
KEY ACTORS
Prodromou
>> It would be provocative by anyone in the occupied areas to politicise and take advantage of the flag incident at a time when the occupation regime and Turkey are making so many illegal moves.
>> While the emotional charge of the teen is understandable, ways to address occupation must be based on rational thinking.
>> Such actions jeopardise future organisation of such events in the occupied areas by GCs.
GC refugees concerned over TC interest in Larnaca homes
Phileleftheros
Property
OVERVIEW
Under the headline, ‘The TCs want back their quarter’, Phileleftheros reports that some GC refugees living in the former TC quarter in Larnaca are very concerned by the increasing visits by TCs to their old neighbourhoods, some with their lawyers to claim their property back.
These refugees fear they will be forced to become refugees for the second time, the daily reports.
According to the daily, more and more TCs want their properties in that area back and are upsetting the mostly elderly GC refugees living there by telling them the houses they live in belong to them.
Some arrive in the area with their GC lawyers who bring along land registry documents and title deeds to those properties in a bid to help their clients reclaim their properties, the paper reports.
Among those concerned refugees is Mr Panayiotis, owner of the ‘Assiotis’ grocery shop in that area. The TC owner of the house he lives in, near his shop, went there one day with his lawyer saying that the property was his.
“If they take our home I will also have a problem with the shop. It is very convenient because it is close to our house,” he told Phileleftheros.
The paper also reports on concerns by other refugees including an 80-year-old woman from Famagusta who wants the government to tell TCs that if they want to come back to their properties they ought to give GCs back theirs.