Front Page Headlines
We count the dead and our endurance
Five deaths and another 419 cases yesterday – We reached 68 dead. Concern due to yesterday’s result. Council of Ministers to have emergency meeting today to decide on new measures. Epidemiologists suggest strengthening of current measures based on those for Limassol. They ask closures of schools and eating areas until Christmas. Over 50% of yesterday’s cases are confirmations of rapid tests from previous days.
- N. Anastasiades: I had political costs from passports
- Investigative committee: Wargaming passports were also checked in 2016
- “P” editorial: Transparency now for passports
- Summit: Yes to measures, with eyes turned to the Cyprus Problem
- Missing: Thousands of bones for DNA and hope for exhumation of missing of Ashia
Decisions sped up
Cafes to be shut down, students go to distance learning, measures extended until January 7th. Announcements today after emergency Cabinet.
- Coordination with Greece and France: Diplomatic fever ahead of Summit – Turkish games before tomorrow’s summit
- Records breaking one after the other: Deaths by coronavirus reached 22 in December – Another five dead yesterday and 419 new cases
- Remains scattered in fenced off Famagusta
- Green light for 230 million euro guarantees for LNG terminal
They… rush with new measures to stop the virus
- Varosha: Fears over remains of missing being moved!
- AKEL’s proposal for restart of negotiations
New lockdown is not ruled out
President calls meeting of cabinet today, new record for cases.
Historical day: Vaccinations began yesterday in UK – Another 5 dead yesterday in Cyprus and 21 in serious condition!
The beginning of the end of the coronavirus. 419 new cases (in Cyprus). No light ahead for loosening of measures.
- Photis Photiou: Turks move remains of missing
- Leaders decide how EU – Turkish relations will evolve – “Milliyet” sees few and mild sanctions
Main News
Commission: EU leaders will decide on relations with Turkey
Alithia, Haravgi, Oikonomiki Kathimerini, Phileleftheros, Politis
EU Matters, Regional/ International Relations, External Security, Energy, Negotiations Process
OVERVIEW
The dailies report that European Commission spokesperson Peter Stano told journalists in Brussels that the leaders of the EU are the ones that will decide how its relations with Turkey will evolve and that this will happen during Thursday’s and Fridays European Council (EUCO).
Stano pointed out that the Commission will not speculate on what the decision of the 27 leaders will be. He added that the legal basis regarding the possibility of an EU arms embargo on third countries has not changed since the decisions by several member states to impose an arms embargo unilaterally.
Regarding the possibility of a conference on the Eastern Mediterranean, Stano noted that High Representative Josep Borrell was given the remit to begin exploratory contacts and that work has begun on a technical level. However he pointed to Borrell’s recent statements that due to the current situation the countries of the region are not willing to take part.
Stano also recalled that October’s EUCO was very specific in its conclusion in pointing out that all options will be on the table during the December summit, and that it is up to the leaders to decide which direction to take things, whether to take measures and which measures to take.
Oikonomiki Kathimerini reports that according to sources, the most likely scenario is that the EU 27 will decide to tackle the entire range of EU-Turkish relations in a special summit which would take place in February.
This solution would give time for the EU to focus on the crisis regarding the recovery fund, and to also give time for the US to become involved in the efforts for regional de-escalation. This approach would also put pressure on Turkey to be constructive in efforts to restart negotiations on the Cyprus Problem, the same sources note.
According to Phileleftheros, it is accepted by all that Turkey has not shown signs that it will follow the call of the October 1 EUCO summit.
Phileleftheros reports that Cyprus is coordinating with Greece and France ahead of Thursday’s summit in order to convince the rest of the leaders on the need for measures against Turkey.
The newspaper cites diplomats in Brussels who point out that the EU’s credibility is also on the line as long as Turkey ignores the warnings issued so far. According to the same sources, Germany doesn’t seem willing to actively prevent a decision on measures against Turkey.
Politis reports that Cyprus will push for sanctions against Turkey, but set those sanctions in the wider context of the country’s behaviour in the region, bearing in mind that Turkey could use a measure such as the addition of names to the list of sanctioned persons and companies over natural gas exploration in the Cypriot EEZ in order to pull out of future negotiations over the Cyprus Problem.
According to the newspaper, Greece’s position is also that any measures should not forego the “carrot and stick” principle, meaning that Thursday’s decisions should give Turkey a way back to the table if it so chooses.
Phileleftheros reports that Greek prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis told Greek TV station Alpha that most countries in the EU are now in support of Greece’s position regarding Turkey. Mitsotakis said that the Greek government managed to turn Greek-Turkish differences into EU-Turkish differences, by convincing other countries that Turkey’s behaviour is a concern for the entire EU.
Mitsotakis also said that it is clear that Turkey did not choose to follow the option of building a positive agenda with the EU, which was one of the two options given by the October EUCO. The open question, he added, is how strong the EU’s decisions or measures will be.
Haravgi reports on statements made by the Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto on EU-Turkish relations. Szijjarto, speaking in a joint press conference with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu, said that the EU should thank Turkey for accepting to host four million migrants since this prevented hundreds of thousands from ending up on Hungary’s south border.
Szijjarto also noted that whether the EU likes it or not, its security lies in Turkey’s hands, and added that the EU has disbursed only part of the funds promised regarding migration.
Cavusoglu said that Turkey wants to improve its relations with the EU through its full participation in the bloc, and that problems can only be solved if the European Council acts in a logical way during its upcoming conference.
The Turkish FM also accused Greece of continuing to make provocative steps in the region despite Turkey’s efforts at diplomacy, adding that Ankara expects Brussels to act as an honest broker.
AKEL shares proposal on next Cyprob steps with President
Alithia, Haravgi, Phileleftheros, Politis
Negotiations Process, Governance & Power Sharing, Energy
OVERVIEW
AKEL secretary general Andros Kyprianou met with President Anastasiades on Tuesday to present him with the proposals of the opposition party on the Cyprus Problem, which aim to point at ways in which the G/C side can convince the international community that it is ready for a solution and can convince Turkey and the T/C side that it insists on a bizonal bicommunal federation with political equality, Politis reports.
In a statement, Kyprianou said that the party’s proposal has two aspects. One concerns how the government can encourage the beginning of a new negotiations process and the second concerns how hydrocarbons can be used as an incentive to contribute to the solution of the Cyprus Problem.
Politis points out that the point of the proposal is to show that the G/C side means what it says and is ready to take action. Also, according to AKEL’s thinking, even if Turkey does not accept these proposals or pulls out of future negotiations, the G/C side can take steps to ensure that it will not be blamed as it will have been seen to have done its share, party sources told the newspaper.
The same sources told Politis that the issue of political equality is central to the effort of convincing Ankara to step back in its positions on guarantees and security. AKEL has often said that the President should fully accept the principle of political equality as recorded in UN resolutions and in the convergences that have been achieved.
According to the newspaper, AKEL also argues that the G/C side should take specific steps to address the concerns of the T/C side regarding the natural gas issue, without overstepping its own red lines.
Politis reports that despite the negative political climate, the meeting was constructive with the President committing to study the proposal and meet again with Kyprianou to discuss its details.
The newspaper recalls that in July 2019, AKEL had said that the President should signal that he is ready to discuss the involvement of the T/C community in natural gas issues if a “strategic agreement” (note: locking in agreements made until Crans Montana including the Guterres Framework) is reached.
AKEL had also said that the G/C side could commit to federal Cyprus beginning negotiations with Turkey after the solution towards establishing a natural gas pipeline.
Parliamentary committee informed of Varosha mass grave possibility
Alithia, Cyprus Mail, Haravgi, Phileleftheros, Politis
Human Rights, CBMs, Territory
OVERVIEW
The dailies report once again on the possibility of mass graves with the remains of G/Cs killed during the Turkish invasion of Famagusta, located somewhere inside fenced-off Varosha, after the matter was discussed during a session of the parliamentary committee on refugees (displaced) and the missing.
According to information which was shared with the members of the committee on Tuesday, the bodies of about 100 people are believed to have been buried in Varosha and the area of Agios Memnon, including those of five children. The MPs were informed of the danger that these burial grounds could be destroyed or built over if the T/C side and Turkey move ahead with developing the region before the Committee on Missing Persons (CMP) has a chance to conduct exhumations.
This information was shared by government commissioner on humanitarian issues, Photis Photiou. Photiou said that 60 out of these 100 people are considered missing, and that most of them were citizens that had returned to the city thinking the invasion had ended and had been killed by Turkish forces. Another 40 people are soldiers that were killed in the line of duty. Some of the missing are recorded to have been buried by the UN during August and September of 1974.
Another issue that came up during the discussion was that of the need to fully identify all 2,500 fragments of remains connected to the 70 missing people found in a mass grave outside of Ashia. The CMP’s G/C head, Leonidas Pantelides, told the committee that in the past DNA tests were only conducted until the number of people expected to be found in a mass grave was reached. This led to the possibility of fragments of remains being shared out to different families, with the possibility of different remains ending up with different families.
Pantelides noted that in some cases such as the widely publicised “Foris” case, fragments that were found not to have belonged to the missing person in question were taken back. However, he added, there is no anthropological method that can help identify fragments, and that this can only be done through DNA tests. DNA tests, Pantelides noted, are costly and the CMP needs funds to be able to carry them all out.
Photiou also informed the MPs that the fact that the contracts of the T/C head of the CMP, as well as that of her assistant, were not renewed, creates additional difficulties since the CMP needs unanimity from all three members (including the foreign member) in order to take decisions. According to Photiou, T/C archaeologists and researchers were also fired after Ersin Tatar’s election.
The MPs also heard about the known cases of the possibility of a mass grave with about 200 people in Lapithos as well as in other areas in the occupied north.
Commission approves €230m state guarantees for LNG terminal
Haravgi, Phileleftheros
Energy, Economy, EU Matters
OVERVIEW
The European Commission has given the green light for the RoC to guarantee 230 million euro for loans from the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), which will go towards financing the construction of a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal at Vasilikos, Phileleftheros reports citing a press release.
According to the European Commission’s announcement, the Commission recognises the importance of the project for the EU gas market and finds that state guarantees are necessary in order to obtain two loans amounting to 150 million euros from the EIB and 80 million euros from the EBRD. The loans are intended for the Cypriot Natural Gas Public Company (DEFA).
In the announcement, the Commission also notes that Cyprus is an isolated energy market with a high dependency on liquid fuels for power generation. The Commission finds that the construction of the LNG terminal will enable market integration and improve the country’s security of energy supply and diversification of imported energy sources.
The project is also expected to help reduce the emission of greenhouse gases associated with power generation in Cyprus, the Commission notes.