Front Page Headlines
Cypriots plugged for an electric vehicle
More than 300 applications for subsidies submitted within five hours. (Transport minister) Karousos considers increasing funds to satisfy more than 100 applications. Great interest also for the plan for recall of cars older than 15 years.
- Syria: Idlib divides Russia and Turkey
- (British) Bases: They agree for development
They put names on the list
Sanctions approved in principle in the EU for two Turks with an important role in the illegal drillings. First step in practical measures against Turkey.
- Samples from the occupied areas sent to Turkey: Measures and checks for the coronavirus in checkpoints and airports
- They challenge the (property) guardian service: Mass appeals from Turkish Cypriots
- 100 million sterling tax for “property commission”
They abet illegal employers
Three years of pretexts from DISY – DIKO for the legislation. Amendment destroys Inspectors service. No to sanctions. Right of silence for the employers.
- Simos Ioannou: Famagusta a bridge for the comprehensive solution of the Cyprus Problem
- Meeting on platform safety. US assistant secretary of state will approve
- Halloumi export companies await for today’s Presidential Palace decisions
State declares jet issue closed
Opposition still after answers over the president’s relationship with Saudi plane owner.
- Cyprus: Irregular migrants at core of talks with Europol
EDEK (split) in two!
Heavy accusations against Demetris Papadakis – Relations of two sides at extremes. The party’s MEP is accused of consciously and through his acts and deeds aiming to dismantle/ destroy EDEK. Possibility of withdrawal of membership open. Paphos MP Elias Myrianthous supports Papadakis.
- Drill of ENI – Total consortium comes end of March, start of April: Drillings in the Cypriot EEZ restart – Nicosia: Visit by American assistant secretary of state sends political messages. Another two persons in the EU’s sanction list for Turkey
- Turkey – Russia relations flare up because of Syria
Main News
EU puts two Turkish citizens on sanctions list over drillings
Alithia, Cyprus Mail, Haravgi, Oikonomiki Kathimerini, Phileleftheros, Politis
EU Matters, Energy, External Security, Regional/ International Relations
OVERVIEW
All dailies report today on the decision by the European Council’s Working Party of Foreign Relations Councellors (Relex) to place two individuals on the EU’s list of sanctioned persons in connection with Turkey’s illegal activitis in the Cypriot EEZ.
Cyprus News Agency reports that the proposal is set to be approved by the Council without discussion in one of its next sessions.
The sanctions will be imposed on the basis of the European Council’s decision of November 11th 2019. The individuals and companies named will be banned entry or transit in the EU and their financial assets will be frozen.
Phileleftheros calls this decision the first step in practical measures being taken against Turkey, adding that the Foreign Ministry now has an important tool that can be utilised if and when Ankara continues acting in the same manner in the Eastern Mediterranean. Phileleftheros also notes that the Foreign Ministry has decided to keep the matter low in the public agenda.
Politis reports that the list that was approved is much shorter than was expected, and adds that it will probably not be enough to put a stop to Turkey’s actions in the Eastern Mediterranean.
Regarding the process to be followed, Phileleftheros explains that the European External Action Service and the Council’s legal advisors will now prepare the necessary texts and the Commission will prepare for changes in regulations in order to add the two persons in the EU’s wider list of sanctioned individuals. Relex will then approve of the final texts, and the final formal approval will be given by COREPER (permanent representantives of the member states) and any configuration of the Council of Ministers as a “type A point”, i.e. without discussion.
The names will then be published in the EU’s official gazzette. The whole process is expected to last several weeks.
Cyprus Mail also reports on statements by government spokesperson Kyriakos Koushios regarding the visit of US assistant secretary of state for energy Francis Fannon in Cyprus. Fannon is set to have a series of meetings during his three day visit which started Tuesday.
Koushios said that Fannon’s visit is a confirmation of Cyprus’ upgraded relations with the US and a testament to the US interest in the energy development in the region and should be interpreted as giving political signals.
In a related development, Oikonomiki Kathimerini reports that the Italian Foreign Ministry announced on Tuesday that Greece and Italy are restarting negotiations for EEZ delineation. The announcement came after a meeting of Italian FM Luigi Di Maio and Greek FM Nikos Dendias in Rome.
In its statement, the Italian Foreign Ministry also said that Dendias and Di Maio agreed that the East Med pipeline is a project of common interest.
Haravgi reports that Greece and Turkey will begin a new round of talks regarding confidence building measures this month, citing information circulated in media in Greece originating in the country’s Foreign and Defence Ministry.
In another development, the dailies report that the new head of the European Peoples Party Donald Tusk, told DISY president Averof Neofytou that the center-right political group continues to support Cypriot sovereignty in the Eastern Mediterranean.
KEY ACTORS
Koushios (Gov spokesperson)
>> Fannon’s visit should be seen as political signal of US interest to energy development in the region and confirmation of upgraded Cyprus – US relations
Italian Foreign Ministry
>> The EastMed pipeline is a project of common interest with Greece
About 200 appeals have been lodged by T/Cs over properties in south
Haravgi, Phileleftheros
Property, Economy, Human Rights
OVERVIEW
Phileleftheros reports that over 100 applications for return of property have been filed by Turkish Cypriots against the Ministry for the Interior as the guardian of T/C properties, as well as nearly 100 appeals on decisions regarding T/C properties.
The newspaper reports that an official from the Ministry of the Interior told the Parliament’s committee on refugee issues that the aim of the appeals and applications seems to be to set the basis for future appeals to the European Court of Human Rights.
The official pointed out that the law regarding the status of Turkish Cypriot properties in the government controlled areas drew its justification on an older decision by then T/C leader Rauf Denktaş, through which G/C properties had been granted to T/C reciding in the occupied areas.
Until today, the official said, any appeal by Turkish Cypriots requesting a return of property was rejected on the grounds that they had been granted G/C properties. However, he noted, new applications are being made by T/C inheritors, who point out that they were never granted G/C properties themselves.
According to the official, the courts have decided that when a Turkish Cypriot property is being appropriated by the state, the compensation should be handed directly to the T/C owner and not put in the special fund that is being used to this day.
Haravgi also reports that AKEL MP and refugee committee president Skevi Koukouma said that it’s necessary to update the law covering how T/C properties are handled. Koukouma said that there had been suggestions but the law was not amended. She noted that the ministry department handling T/C properties had prepared a study, but that then the Ministry decided the time was not ripe for this discussion.
Court case over lack of support for G/C displaced by RoC begins
Alithia, Cyprus Mail, Haravgi, Politis
Property, Human Rights
OVERVIEW
The administrative court of the Republic of Cyprus held its first hearing on Tuesday regarding the petition of former Supreme Court judge Demetrios Hadjihambis, who is seeking a ruling that the state is responsible for compensating refugees for financial loss sustained since the 1974 invasion, Cyprus Mail reports.
The argument made by Hadjihambis is based on the position that in case of a national disaster, the burden must be shared by the entire population, not only the directly affected. In a statement for the court, Hadjihambis noted that he motive is not compensation, but the recognition of the state’s obligation “and its response to its longstanding ommission to ensure an equal distribution of the burdens created by the occupation”.
The petitioner estimates that damages for loss of use of property he owns in the Ayios Memnonas district of Famagusta amount to several hundred thousands euro, the newspaper adds.
Cyprus Mail also reports that the judge presiding over the case, Giorgos Serafim, said during the start of proceedings that as a refugee and an owner of property in the north he could recuse himself from the trial at a later stage, depending on how the case proceeds. The fact in itself however is not sufficient grounds for recusal at this stage, he added.
The Republic will have to submit in writing its position on the case by April 2nd, the judge decided.
Cyprus and UK on cusp of deal over development in Sovereign Base Areas
Politis
Economy, Property, Internal Security, Regional/ International Relations
OVERVIEW
Cyprus and the United Kingdom are close to completing a deal on development in non-military areas of the Sovereign Base Areas, Politis reports.
Foreign Minister Nikos Christodoulides told 107,6 Politis radio that the deal could be completed before the end of February. The newspaper also reports that Preasident Anastasiades has given instructions for the necessary processes to be sped up on behalf of the Repyblic of Cyprus.
The only aspect of the deal that remains to be agreed is the exact wording regarding the cooperation of the police of the RoC and the police of the SBAs. Politis cites information that the RoC’s Ministry of Justice has already sent its proposals to the United Kingdom.
The newspaper recalls that the initial agreement to permit development in lands currently within the SBAs that are not being used by the British military was signed in January 2014. The government had announced last year that the deal would be finalised by the autumn of 2019.
The land that will be developed comprises 78% of the SBAs total territory on Cyprus. With the deal, the RoC gains administrative and judicial powers over the land concerned.
Measures against coronavirus stepped up at checking points
Alithia, Cyprus Mail, Haravgi, Politis, Phileleftheros
Internal Security, CBMs
OVERVIEW
Both sides in Cyprus have stepped up measures against the possible spread of the coronavirus according to the World Health Organisation guidelines, including additional measures at check points, Cyprus Mail reports.
The new security measures have been implemented since Friday according to the authorities of the Republic of Cyprus. The measures include the completion of a brief questionnaire by people crossing to the government controlled areas. Citizens are asked if they have visited China in the past two weeks or if they have been in contact with anyone whou could have been infected.
The newspaper reports that the head of state health services Elisavet Constantinou inspected the implementaion of safety measures at the crossing poings on Tuesday.
In the north, thermal cameras have been installed at Tymbou airport in order to detect people with fever. The T/Cs have started scanning passengers arriving from high-risk countries last week. Phileleftheros quotes statement by the T/C coordinator of the Technical Committees, Meltem Onurkan Samani, who said that two quarantine rooms have been created in Tymbou airport and in the T/C central hospital in Nicosia.
Phileleftheros reports that the members of the bicommunal Technical Committe for Health communicate daily so that both sides can be kept up to date on the most recent developments. The newspaper also reports that the T/C authorities are planning to send possible samples regarding suspicious incidents to Turkey, instead of to the Institute of Neurology and Genetics in Cyprus as has been suggested.
Mainly Haravgi but also Philelftheros report on a statement made by T/C leader Mustafa Akıncı on the coronavirus. Akinci said that epidemics don’t take borders into account, which is why they should be taken seriously and faced with joint action.