Front Page Headlines
Securing signatures with a names’ list
Announcement by employees of the Audit Office in support of Odysseas Michaelides. After the attempt to secure an announcement by the board of the union branch failed, the (Audit Office’s) department heads assumed responsibility to collect the employees’ signatures. “You realise what we had coming for us if we did not sign…,” employees told Politis. They replaced in the draft announcement references to the Auditor-general with ‘Audit Office’ thus making the employees part of Odysseas’ personal dispute with the government and the attorney-general. Despite the fact the auditor-general declared he agreed to cooperate with the attorney-general without asking for the files the investigative committee (on naturalisations) is investigating, the issue is being brought back through his subordinates and without an appeal to the Supreme Court.
- Ankara: It denounces Cyprus-Greece and insists on a summit (on the Eastern Mediterranean)
Nicolas is pushing it to the edge
DIKO yesterday decided to vote against the state budget. The government now is turning to EDEK while ELAM’s role is also decisive.
- They are waiting for Lute’s trip to Ankara
- Erdogan’s five transformations due to the US
- Two more deaths, another 348 cases, 60 cases in nursing homes
Prodromou has no idea what is going on in schools
The exams will carry on as planned, a week after the Christmas holidays, Education Minister Prodromos Prodromou stubbornly insists, ignoring both the difficulties of distance learning and the fact that more than 500 pupils are in self-isolation but also the problems concerning the teaching material.
- Athens is ready for a five-party summit
- Rally for peace from TC youth
New rules for flight arrivals
System to begin on March 1, 2021, vaccinated people will not need to present PCR test.
(Numbers) are not going down…
Coronavirus is getting stronger. We broke all records yesterday with another 348 cases from PCR tests and 162 from rapid tests. Another two deaths, five within 48 hours. With such numbers relaxations during the holidays will probably become a distant dream. 48,000 vaccine doses to arrive in Cyprus in January.
- Cabinet decision: Guards of political leaders are being reduced by 21
Main News
Cyprob, EU-Turkey relations on Greek & Cypriot FMs’ agenda
Alithia, Cyprus Mail, Haravgi, Phileleftheros, Politis
Negotiations Process, EU Matters, Regional/International Relations, External Security
OVERVIEW
Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias will be in Nicosia on Friday for consultations with his Cypriot counterpart Nikos Christodoulides on developments on the Cyprus problem and EU-Turkey relations, the dailies report.
Dendias, who will be received by President Nicos Anastasiades in the morning, will hold a meeting with Christodoulides in the framework of the regular contacts between Nicosia and Athens.
The two ministers will hold a meeting, followed by deliberations with the participation of other officials. Discussion is expected to focus on the coordination of actions in light of the recent developments on the Cyprus issue, as well as the ongoing discussions at EU level on relations with Turkey. They are expected to make statements.
The dailies cite statements to the Cyprus News Agency by the Greek foreign ministry’s spokesperson Alexandros Papaioannou, who said that the ministry’s permanent secretary Themistoklis Demiris conveyed to the UN Secretary-General’s special envoy, Jane Holl Lute, Athens’ readiness to participate in a five-party summit on Cyprus under the auspices of the UN Secretary-General.
Papaioannou also stressed that Greece remains firm in its position for a solution to the Cyprus Problem, based on a bizonal bicommunal federation and UN Resolutions while reiterating that the resumption of negotiations must start from the point they left off at Crans-Montana.
Alithia, citing state broadcaster CyBC, reports that Lute might return to Cyprus after her contacts in Ankara.
The dailies also report that CNA sources within the Greek foreign ministry refuted as completely unsubstantial recent reports in the Turkish media claiming that Dendias had requested Cyprus become a NATO member during the Summit of NATO Foreign Ministers. According to those sources, the Greek foreign minister never raised such an issue. Dendias, the sources said, stressed the need for NATO to cooperate with the European Union, which means equal cooperation with all EU member states, including Cyprus.
Phileleftheros also reports that spokesman of the UN Secretary General Stéphane Dujarric said during a press conference this week that the Secretary General’s position is that it is important to resume a viable and comprehensive negotiation process for the Cyprus problem.
The daily also reports that Lute’s round of contacts in the region has been completed and that she will return to New York for around 10 days until her next trip this time to Ankara. Lute’s contacts in Ankara are considered of defining importance since their result will set the tone for the course of developments.
The paper also pointed out that Lute’s contacts with the guarantor powers in this phase is not at top level, citing her meeting in Athens not with Dendias but with Demiris. A representative of the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs avoided answering a relevant question asked by CNA regarding the reason why Dendias did not meet with Lute. It should be noted that as far as Britain is concerned, Lute’s contacts so far have been at a technocratic level and not with the country’s Foreign Minister, Dominique Raab, the daily reports. It added that Dendias, in recent days has been in constant contact with his EU counterparts and foreign diplomats to discuss the situation in the Eastern Mediterranean, in view of the Foreign Affairs Council and the European Council that will take place next week.
Politis, citing Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu’s speech at the Rome MED 2020 conference, reports that in the past few days, Ankara has been making proposals for cooperation with the EU and the US while verbally attacking Greece and Cyprus.
According to the daily, in an attempt to use for its own benefit the situation in the region just a few days prior to the EU high-level summit, Ankara launches verbal attacks against Greece and Cyprus while at the same time sending messages of dialogue and cooperation with the EU, US and NATO. Cavusoglu reiterated the proposal for a conference on the Eastern Mediterranean with the participation of all coastal states of the area, including the TCs, to provide solutions to disputes and create a climate of cooperation.
Cavusoglu, attempting to justify Turkish provocative actions in the area all this time, stressed that for years Ankara has been showing a positive mood and intention for cooperation and dialogue with Greece and Cyprus but does not find any response, the paper reported. This, he said, did not leave Ankara with any other choices than to defend both its own and the TCs’ rights, Politis reports.
In another article, Phileleftheros also notes a shift in Ankara’s stance. It reports that the result of the US elections has forced Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to change his stance and try to build new bridges of cooperation both with the EU and the US.
The daily, citing articles by Greek news portal Ta Nea, and French daily Le Monde, reports that Erdogan fears that with Trump’s departure from the White House, the US might harden its stance on Ankara. Erdogan also wants to avoid a negative development on Turkey at the EU leaders’ summit since his supporter in the White House, Trump, is leaving. As such, Ankara is not expected to be able to get away with things anymore.
Citing Le Monde, Phileleftheros reports that Ankara’s regional ambitions, in particular, the military harassment of Kurdish fighters in Syria who are US allies in the fight against the Islamic State in northeastern Syria, its military-industry ties with Russia as well as its aggression in the Eastern Mediterranean left Turkey with not many friends in Washington.
AKEL to present proposal on Cyprob
Haravgi, Phileleftheros
Negotiation Process, Governance & Power Sharing
OVERVIEW
The dailies report that AKEL announced it will submit a comprehensive proposal on the Cyprus problem, also indicating what the GC side’s moves ought to be from now on.
The party’s spokesman Stefanos Stefanou said AKEL’s aim is to contribute to eliminating every effort to put a two-state solution on the negotiations table and for the procedure to continue based on the agreed solution framework.
He added that AKEL’s proposal aims at the resumption of negotiations from the point they left off in Crans-Montana, based on the Guterres Framework, convergences reached so far and a bizonal, bicommunal federal solution with political equality as described by the UN resolutions.
The Central Committee of AKEL has already discussed and approved the proposal, which will first be presented to the President of the Republic and then will be made public.
AKEL appeals to everyone to realise that both the Cyprus problem and Cyprus are at a critical point and that the divisive occupation status quo is a threat to the entire Cypriot people. The only way for the salvation of Cyprus is a solution based on principles, liberation and reunification, the party said.
On another issue concerning AKEL, Phileleftheros reports in another article, that the main opposition party’s central committee has launched the procedures for candidacies for May’s parliamentary elections.
The party announced that it will form its ballot papers for the parliamentary elections through a democratic process in which thousands of AKEL members and friends widely participate. This is the best guarantee that the AKEL ballot papers will meet the demands of the workers and the new generation as well as the expectation of the Cypriot people as a whole for a different course for the country, the party said, according to Phileleftheros.
Fewer guards for political leaders
Alithia, Cyprus Mail, Haravgi, Politis, Phileleftheros
Internal Security
OVERVIEW
Cabinet approved reassigning duties for 21 of the 56 police officers working as guards for political leaders and former top state officials.
Justice Minister Emily Yiolitis announced that these 21 officers would be sent to patrol the old part of Nicosia so that there is a much more noticeable police presence in the old city.
Yiolitis also said that because the issue of the presidential guard was also raised, if the police risk assessment committee deems that the presidential guard is either non-satisfactory or found to be excessive it will then carry out the necessary changes. She added that officers in the presidential guard accompany the president and are also tasked with guarding the Presidential Palace the president’s home and the Troodos presidential residence.
Yiolitis also said that the justice ministry will no longer approve requests for part-time work of police officers in other sectors except in extraordinary cases. This decision was made in order to ensure a more effective use of the force, she said, urging officers who wish to increase their income to do so through overtime work within the force.
Phileleftheros reports that currently 55 police officers and 13 firemen have permission to also work in the private sector.
CA flights to Russia problem resolved
Cyprus Mail
Economy, Regional/International Relations
OVERVIEW
The daily reports that Cyprus Airways on Thursday announced it had added routes to Moscow and St Petersburg for this winter after the Russian authorities gave the green light.
The company said earlier this week it could not operate its planned new weekly flight schedule from Larnaca to Moscow’s Domodedovo airport which was scheduled to start at the end of November after Russian authorities placed restrictions on the airline.
On Thursday it said the obstacles had been overcome and that it will operate flights to Moscow Domodedovo Airport once a week until January 15, while flights to St Petersburg will commence on January 21.
Chief Operations Officer of Cyprus Airways George Mavrocostas said they were forced to publicly raise this issue after having to inform some of their passengers last month while at the airport that they could not fly to Moscow due to the refusal of the Russian authorities to allow the airline in.
Mavrocostas thanked Transport Minister Yiannis Karousos, the Civil Aviation Department, Foreign Minister Nikos Christodoulides, Russian Ambassador to Cyprus Stanislav Osadchiy and the Federal Agency for Air Transport for all their efforts.