Front Page Headlines
1.4 million euro budget for tests and equipment
“Bill” for dealing with pandemic constantly rising. Prices of tests ranging from 40 to 65 euros, with the exception of the tracking tests by the Institute for Neurology and Genetics, which cost 34 euro per exam. 51% of total cost concerns tests made in schools, while 41% goes to conducting 14,000 random sampling. Ministry of Health asks for 450,000 for use of thermometers at airports. Parliamentary finance committee to take position on Monday.
- Ad hoc (committee) on PEP (politically exposed persons): They expand the catalogue so they never finish
Turkish smokescreen
Ankara wants a dialogue to create impressions – Tries to hide its intentions in Mediterranean – Aegean. President in Brussels on Wednesday.
- The tragedy that was discovered after the exhumations: Turkish Cypriot missing were buried in seal cave
- New strict measures in football: Infectiousness of coronavirus rises causing concerns
- Tatar leads and Turkey controls
Proposal for multi-party conference promoted
Multi-party conference in cooperation with the UN. Michel: Eradication of tensions through dialogue. Delineations of maritime zones – energy on the table.
- G/C and T/C youth have common concerns
Cyprus set to be ‘remade’
With 1bn euro in EU recovery grants, the scope of the changes is said to be unprecedented.
- Cyprus: Collapsed Nicosia bastion wall restored
- Opinion: Trump and Erdogan vs the world
- Lifestyle: The controversial artist George Gavriel paints what he feels
Coronavirus strikes, football endures
Cases increase – Championship continues. Other than Nea Salamina and Ethnikos Ahnas, a case also found in Omonia. Changing rooms closed and sample checks weekly. Complaints against keeping Famagusta General Hospital as reference (hospital).
- Tensions on day after Anastasiades’s speech at UN: Koushios to AKEL: What do you suggest – “Boldly say in public what you are suggesting after all, should we accept the invasion in our EEZ and the threats to settle Famagusta?”
- Cavusoglu to Pelosi: “You will learn to respect the will of the Turkish nation”
- No position taken: Will Greece support a veto by Cyprus?
- Water shortage in occupied areas: Water transfer from Turkey yok
Main News
Anastasiades speech at UN General Assembly criticised by opposition
Alithia, Haravgi, Phileleftheros, Politis
Negotiations Process, Governance & Power Sharing, Regional/ International Relations, EU Matters, External Security, Energy
OVERVIEW
President Anastasiades has been criticised by AKEL on the tone of his speech which was broadcast during the UN General Assembly’s virtual plenary on Thursday, but AKEL also noted that some of his points were correct, Phileleftheros reports.
AKEL said in a statement that Anastasiades was correct in pointing out that Turkey has been escalating in the Eastern Mediterranean and acting in an illegal and provocative way against Cyprus. The party also pointed out that Anastasiades committed to continue negotiations from the point where they were left off at Crans Montana.
However the opposition party also wondered why the President talked against convergences such as the principle of one positive vote, given his stated determination to resume negotiations on the basis of convergences agreed before Crans Montana. AKEL also asks why the government is yet to react to the fact that UNSG Guterres apportioned blame to both sides in his September 2017 report, given the President insisted on his narrative on what happened in Crans Montana during his speech.
Government spokesperson Kyriakos Koushios responded in a statement expressing his sadness that AKEL is overlooking Turkish positions on the issue and said that the party should specifically say what it suggests, and whether it believes that the G/Cs should accept Turkish faits accomplis and ignore provocations. He also denied that the President rejected convergences of the past, and pointed out that the UNSG has included political equality and the one positive vote in his framework.
Meanwhile Phileleftheros reports that Turkey’s National Security Council said in a statement that the country will not back down from defending its rights on land, air and sea, and that it calls on countries breaking international law and agreements to show caution, pointing especially to army presence on islands Turkey says should be demilitarised.
Phileleftheros also reports that according to Turkish daily Hurriyet, Turkish President Erdogan sent a letter to EU leaders seeking dialogue, leading to a change in the upcoming EU summit’s agenda.
Also, Greek Foreign Ministry spokesperson Alexandros Gennimatas told Greek media on Friday that the country supports the Cypriot position for targeted measures against persons and entities involved in Turkish illegal activities in the Cypriot EEZ. Gennimatas was responding to a question by a journalist.
Alithia reports that many journalists and academics have criticised the stance of the RoC over sanctions on Belarus in articles in the Greek press, and points out that this creates a negative climate in the country ahead of the European Council.
The spokesperson of the European Council President announced on Friday that Charles Michel had been tested twice and found negative to coronavirus, and would thus end his quarantine, meaning that the European Council will take place as planned on October 1st and 2nd. The spokesperson, Barend Leyts, had announced last Tuesday that the European Council originally planned for September 24th-25th would be postponed for a week due to Michel having come in contact with a security officer found positive for coronavirus.
In his speech during the General Assembly, Michel said the EU is concerned over the situation in the Eastern Mediterranean, according to CNA. In his recorded speech, Michel said that the EU believes that all unilateral actions that contravene international law should completely stop, and added that the EU and the member states are engaged in diplomatic efforts to de-escalate and bring about dialogue.
Michel repeated his proposal for a multilateral conference on the Easter Mediterranean with the assistance of the United Nations. He said that many actors have already responded positively and are ready to discuss details, possible agendas and the conference’s time frame. Michel pointed out that some of the issues that need to be discussed are maritime border delineation, security, energy and migration.
Greek prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said during his recorded speech that Greece has selected to follow the road of dialogue and stated that his intention is to give diplomacy a chance. He said that Greece had promoted dialogue from the beginning of the crisis while Turkey chose to follow the road of intransigence and to undermine international law and the stability and safety of the region and the EU.
Mitsotakis added that he remains optimistic that everyone understands that constant escalation cannot continue, and underlined that he cannot accept that it there cannot be cooperation between close neighbours, citing the example of Israel and the UAE. He also said that if diplomacy does not settle the issues between Greece and Turkey, then the two countries will have to trust the International Court of Justice at The Hague.
Meanwhile, spokesperson of the Turkish Presidency Ibrahim Kalin told journalists that exploratory talks with Greece will continue from where they had stopped, Haravgi reports citing the Anadolu news agency. Kalin added that there will also be another two negotiations processes, one on a political level and one on a military level.
Kalin pointed out that the exploratory talks framework had been set up in 2002 specifically to discuss the issue of the two countries’ continental shelves, EEZs and Aegean air space, with talks continuing until 2016, and that this will be the 61st round of these talks.
The dailies also report that US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will be in Greece on Sunday. Alithia reports, citing a statement by a State Department official, that this is Pompeo’s second visit to Greece in a year. The same official pointed out that Pompeo will sign a bilateral cooperation agreement in science and technology, and that he will visit the Souda military base in Crete which was expanded after the recent signature of an extended defence and cooperation agreement.
Haravgi reports that a youth group called the Bicommunal Youth Group for the Environment and Peace have sent a letter to President Anastasiades and T/C leader Mustafa Akinci, asking them to contribute in de-escalation in the region and reconsider the decision to drill for natural gas in the Eastern Mediterranean as well as conduct an environmental impact assessment.
KEY ACTORS
AKEL
>> Anastasiades was correct in pointing out Turkish escalation in the region and its illegal acts
>> Also positive that President committed to resuming negotiations from where they were left off in Crans Montana
>> However, in his speech, President talked again convergences regarding political equality, such as the one positive vote, that he had reached before Crans Montana
>> Why has the government not yet reacted to the UNSG’s equal apportioning of blame to both sides in a 2017 report, given that it insists Turkey bears all the responsibility?
Kyriakos Koushios (government spokesperson)
>> AKEL should say what it is suggesting and whether it believes the G/Cs should accept Turkish faits accomplis
>> President did not reject past convergences, and in fact political equality and one positive vote are one of the six points in the Guterres Framework
Turkish National Security Council
>> Turkey will not back down from defending its rights on land, air and sea
>> Countries that break international law should show caution, especially on demilitarised islands
Alexandros Gennimatas (Greek Foreign Ministry spokesperson)
>> Greece supports Cypriot position on targeted sanctions against Turkey
Charles Michel (European Council President)
>> EU is concerned over situation in East Med and all unilateral actions that contravene international law should completely stop
>> EU and member states engaged in diplomatic efforts towards de-escalation and dialogue
>> Many actors have responded positively to proposal of conference on East Med with assistance of UN and are ready to discuss details, the agenda and the time frame
Kyriakos Mitsotakis (Greek prime minister)
>> Greece has chosen the path of dialogue and giving diplomacy a chance while Turkey was choosing intransigence
>> He cannot accept that cooperation is impossible
Ibrahim Kalin (Turkish Presidency spokesperson)
>> The exploratory talks with Greece are a continuation of a process that begun in 2002 and was interrupted in 2016, and will have a political and a military component
Europeans respond to T/C associations on RoC checkpoint measures
Alithia, Haravgi, Phileleftheros, Politis
CBMs, Human Rights, Internal Security, EU Matters
OVERVIEW
Haravgi reports that a T/C platform of economic associations was told by the EU that the G/C side has begun loosening restrictions that have been imposed on crossings through checkpoints in February.
The newspaper cites an announcement by the T/C chamber of commerce, the T/C hoteliers association and the T/C union of construction companies. The association state s that it had sent letters to European officials after the RoC imposed restrictions on checkpoints, asking for the EU to work for the correct application of the Green Line Regulation.
According to the announcement, EU officials responded with a letter pointing out that the G/C side has began lifting restrictions that have been applied at the start of the pandemic and that crossing through the Green Line are returning to their former condition.
The CNA notes however, citing information, that the response is referring to a decision to alter the regulation codes regarding the RoC’s application of the Green Line Regulation, which was taken by the Cabinet of Ministers in November 2019 as a measure against irregular migration. This decision was later reversed in May 2020.
Meanwhile the dailies report that 8 new cases of coronavirus have been detected in the government controlled areas on Friday, bringing the total of cases so far to 1,671. A total of 14 people are still being treated in the Famagusta General Hospital, one of which is in intensive care. Three new cases were detected in the occupied areas out of a total of 1046 tests, bringing the total of cases detected in the north to 735.
Alithia also reports that the authorities of the Sovereign Base Areas have in three cases caught a total of eight people attempting to cross the Pergamos and Strovilia checkpoints with fake coronavirus test results. Head of the SBAs’ Customs and Immigration department, Adam Chatfield, told the media that there have been fewer crossings due to the coronavirus restrictions, but that there have been more cases of attempts to cross with fake tests. None of these three cases has gone to court yet, but two other cases are currently being processed.
Search for T/C missing had affected status of protected seal cave
Phileleftheros
CBMs, Human Rights
OVERVIEW
Phileleftheros reports that the search for missing persons had resulted in the damaging of a sea cave, at the location known as Agios Georgios Alamanos near Monagrouli, and that the cave has since been restored and that protected Mediterranean seals have returned to reproduce.
According to the report, part of the cave was destroyed during an excavation for the remains of several T/Cs killed in 1974. Government commissioner for human rights Photis Photiou told Phileleftheros that the Committee for Missing Persons had received information about the location as early as 1997.
According to this information, T/Cs that had been killed during the Turkish invasion were buried by the perpetrators in the cave. The perpetrators are reported to have used dynamite to open a hole to bury the bodies. The excavation took place in 2006 and the remains of the three T/Cs were identified and have since been returned to their families.
After the excavation the hole was closed with a great amount of soil, resulting in the destruction of the habitat of a rare Cypriot fruit-bat, known as the nyhctopapparos. This year the damage was repaired in three days by the Ministry for Agriculture, by removing about 420 cubic meters of earth with 21 trucks.
Since the end of the works, three Mediterranean seals have returned to the cave. The experts are expecting that there will be births in the cave shortly, increasing the number of seals on the island. Currently about 19 Mediterranean seals live off the coasts of Cyprus