Front Page Headlines
We have woken up
That is was the slogan chanted by the crowd made up mainly of young people who organised themselves to protest the increase in road tax fees.
“If needed, we will go to Ankara to solve it”
The new regulations and limitations imposed on credit card spending in third countries by the Turkish Banking and Supervision Agency have caused concerns in the north, particularly within the tourism sector. The TRNC is listed as an international destination which makes the new ruling applicable in the north. Both the Tourism Minister Ünal Üstel and Foreign Minister Kudret Özersay have launched initiatives to exempt the north from the regulation.
- DSI: It is a technical problem – the Turkish Water Works Department rejected allegations of sabotage on the pipeline supplying fresh water to the north.
- ‘There is no roadtax if no roads’ held its first protest in Nicosia
A big blow to producers
Ali Alioğlu, head of the Turkish Cypriot Citrus Producers’ Association, harshly criticized the ₺1000 per ton subsidy fee for citrus produce set by Cypfruvex (TC citrus company). He added as a result of incorrect policies, 44,000 dönüm (dunam) of citrus groves have dried up.
- Ersin Tatar is the UBP’s presidential candidate – National Unity Party (UBP) leader Ersin Tatar said he wants his party to nominate him as a presidential candidate but added the party will announce its final decision on Saturday.
- “We do not want to die on the roads” – “No road tax if there are no roads” group, which organised itself on social media, held its first protest in north Nicosia.
Civil rebellion
The ‘No road tax if there are no roads’ group, which organised itself on social media, held its first protest in north Nicosia. Several thousand protestors criticized the chaos in traffic and an increase in the MOT tariffs.
- Shameful to put handcuffs on a migrant – The 33 Syrian migrants and a boat captain were brought to court with handcuffs on. They are charged with the offence of “illegally entering the TRNC.”
Children should be careful
While 109 people were admitted to hospital in South Cyprus in the last 15 days after being diagnosed with ‘Swine Flu’, the figure is not known in North Cyprus. There has been a serious rise in the number of flu cases in North Cyprus over the past few days. A considerable number of children are being treated for flu at public hospitals. It’s been reported that the Famagusta Public Hospital is full of patients with flu-like symptoms.
- The adventure didn’t last – Salih Mavideniz who crossed over to the south illegally with the motorcycle he stole from his workplace voluntarily surrendered two days later. His accomplice Gürkan Artun was caught by British Bases Police.
Collective condemnation
Several thousand people gathered for the protest held on Wednesday against road tax fees. The families of those killed in road accidents were among those who addressed the crowd. The protestors expressed their anger and outrage, cursing and condemning the authorities. A deadline was given to the government to reverse the increase in road tax fees by 6 pm Thursday. Everyone who wanted to speak was allowed to do so.
Main News
Çavuşoğlu “We showed our strength in the field”
Yenidüzen
Energy, Regional/International Relations
OVERVIEW
“We were forced to display our strength in the field as a guarantor country,” Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said on Wednesday.
Çavuşoğlu’s remarks came during a panel organised by the SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research titled ‘Turkish Foreign Policy in the Age of Global Uncertainty’.
The Turkish Foreign Minister reiterated Ankara’s readiness to negotiate maritime boundaries with neighbouring countries, for the exception of South Cyprus, and to sign memorandums of understanding.
Çavuşoğlu complained that years of calls made by Ankara to the European Union (EU) and Greece for the fair distribution of resources around Cyprus had fallen on deaf ears.
“We as a guarantor country were forced to show our strength in the field,” he said.
Çavuşoğlu also said that Turkey was working for the fair distribution of natural resources in the Eastern Mediterranean.
“We have been calling on both the EU and Greece for years to abandon unilateral drilling activities and to sit down to discuss and agree on the fair distribution of resources or revenues. The Turkish Cypriots are ready to do this but our proposals have all been ignored,” he said.
KEY ACTORS
Çavuşoğlu (Turkey)
>> Turkey ready to sit down & discuss the fair distribution of East Med natural resources with neighbouring countries except with GC side.
>> Turkey as a guarantor country was left with no choice but to show its strength in the field.
>> All proposals by Turkish side to Greece & EU on sharing natural resources have fallen on deaf ears.
>> Turkey working for the fair distribution of natural resources in East Med.
Israel starts exporting natural gas to Egypt
Yenidüzen
Energy, Regional/International Relations
OVERVIEW
Israel began exporting natural gas to Egypt on Wednesday, under a historic, 15-year deal between the two countries, Deutsche Welle reported.
The story republished by DW’s news partner Yenidüzen, states that the inauguration of the contract marks the first time that Egypt, which in 1979 became the first Arab country to sign a peace pact with Israel, has imported gas from the country.
The deal is expected to boost regional ties, and Egypt hopes the new agreement will help it become a regional energy hub. Egypt is also set to allow Israel to export some of its natural gas to Europe through Egypt’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities.
Those intercontinental exports are expected to start taking place by 2025. Egypt currently exports one billion cubic feet of gas to Europe every month, said Egyptian Oil Minister Tarek al-Mula in a statement on Wednesday. Israel will start by exporting 5,663,000 cubic meters of gas per day to its North African neighbour.
Israeli officials and Middle East gas executives alike have touted the new partnership as the most significant deal signed since the countries made peace with one another.
“Today marks a new era in the Middle East energy sector,” said Yossi Abu, the CEO of the Israeli Delek drilling company, one of the partners on the project.
A private firm in Egypt, Dolphinus Holdings, will purchase 85 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas, worth an estimated US$19.5 billion (€17.5 billion) from Israel’s Leviathan and Tamar gas fields.
Israel has pegged the Leviathan gas field, which is about 130 kilometres (81 miles) west of the Israeli port city of Haifa, as its main source of the product, with an estimated 605 billion cubic meters in reserves.
Israeli Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz and Mula said in a joint statement that the new deal would help both countries economically. Steinitz also described the deal as the first of its kind in decades.
Israel had previously purchased gas from Egypt, but sections of the pipeline between the two were repeatedly targeted by Sinai jihadists in 2011 and 2012. The country is also tipped to start exporting natural gas to Jordan soon.
Restoration projects going ahead full speed
Yenidüzen, Kıbrıs Postası, Kıbrıs, Havadis, Diyalog, Afrika
Human Rights
OVERVIEW
Work to restore the collapsed sections of the old walls of Nicosia between Tabya (Quirini) Bastion and the Arabahmet quarter is continuing, President Mustafa Akıncı’s office announced on Wednesday.
In a written statement, Akıncı’s office, which launched an initiative for the restoration project, said that other sections of the wall that posed the risk of collapse were being temporarily reinforced.
Stones removed from the wall are being numbered before being replaced with a temporary filling until the wall’s foundations are reinforced.
Once the foundations are strengthened, the stones will be laid into place bringing the walls to its original state.
I addition to the work being done to reinforce the walls and its foundation a drainage system for rainwater will also be constructed, it was announced.
Commenting on the issue, co-chair of the bicommunal technical committee on cultural heritage Ali Tuncay said the Higher Board of Antiquities and Monuments has granted the necessary permits for the restoration projects.
He said the restoration work was planned to be completed by May.
Tuncay also said that the shrubs, vegetation and overgrowth along a two-kilometre stretch of Nicosia’s symbolic walls were being cleared in a separate EU funded project.
He added that the remaining sections of the walls will be cleared phase by phase in the period ahead.
Meanwhile, conservation efforts are underway for two churches in the north.
“We are very pleased to be able to bring back to life back two historically and architecturally important churches,” Ali Tuncay said in a separate post on social media.
Tuncay said the members of the technical committee observed the ongoing conservation efforts for the Archangelos Michael Church in Yenierenköy (Yialousa) and the Ayios Sergios and Vaccos Church in Boğaziçi (Lapathos) village.
Syrian migrants jailed in the north, sent to a camp in the south
Yenidüzen, Kıbrıs Postası, Kıbrıs, Havadis, Diyalog, Afrika
Migration and Citizenship
OVERVIEW
The Lefke (Lefka) District court on Wednesday ordered 33 Syrian migrants and a boat captain to be remanded under police custody for two days, all six dailies report on Thursday. The Syrian nationals, who told the court they had boarded the boat from Mersin, Turkey to go south Cyprus. They also pleaded with the court not to be sent back to Syria.
33 Syrian refugees between the ages of 20 and 40 were discovered nearly one mile off the coast of Yeşilırmak (Limnitis) on Monday afternoon.
On the same day, another boat, carrying 101 Syrians, was spotted off Cape Greco, the Greek Cypriot media reported.
Authorities recorded all their details before they are taken to the temporary reception centre in Kokkinotrimithia.
Crossing points continue to be used for drug trafficking
Yenidüzen, Kıbrıs
Internal Security
OVERVIEW
The crossing points continue to be used for drug trafficking, the police narcotics department announced on Wednesday.
In a statement issued by the police, it is reported that three individuals at Metehan (Agios Dometios) and Lokmacı/Ledra street crossing were arrested by the police in the first two weeks of the new year.
Two individuals were detained at the Metehan (Agios Dometios) crossing for possession of 191 grams of cannabis and another was arrested at the Lokmacı (Ledra street) crossing for possession of 150 grams of cannabis.
The statement also highlighted that 15 individuals have been sent to the courts in the first two weeks of 2020 for drug-related crimes.
In a separate incident, two men, one of them a Turkish national, were arrested by British Sovereign Bases (SBA) Police while attempting to cross to the south illegally and handed over to Turkish Cypriot police.
The two were released on bail pending trial.
Two others were arrested in a second incident in the British bases areas between Pile (Pyla) and Beyarmudu (Pergamos) late on Wednesday evening.
Three Turkish Cypriots assaulted a Greek Cypriot man before stealing his vehicle and crossing over to the north.
One of the Turkish Cypriots had agreed to meet with the Greek Cypriot to buy his car.
The three then ganged up on the Greek Cypriot, beating him up before getting away with his car.
Two of the men were arrested in the north while police are searching for the third man involved.
DSI rejects allegations of sabotage on water pipeline
Yenidüzen, Kıbrıs Postası, Kıbrıs, Havadis, Diyalog, Afrika
Economy
OVERVIEW
“The disruption in the freshwater pipeline between Turkey and the north was due to a technical fault,” the Turkish Waterworks department (DSI) said on Wednesday.
In a written statement, the DSI rejected allegations that the pipeline had been sabotaged or had been damaged by Turkish fishing trolls.
The statement also shared the results of the initial survey which revealed that the anchorage mechanism underwater failed damaging three pipes, one of which is currently floating on the surface of the water.
“The action plan for the repairs prepared by the contractor company and approved by DSI has been implemented,” the statement noted.
DSI added that there were enough water reserves in the TRNC to last for eight months. “Therefore, no water shortages will be experienced in the north until the repairs are completed,” the statement concluded.