Front Page Headlines
President collides with DIKO and Odysseas head on
Assigning all investigation to “an officer who is a former official of a specific party” is an obsession. Findings of the Kalogirou committee to be publicised next Tuesday, after Attorney General, MOKAS (Unit for Combating Money Laundering) and the commissioner for data privacy protection make their observations. President sees petty political games and an attempt to hide findings regarding specific law firms behind Nicolas-Odysseas’ effort to undermine Attorney General and investigative committee. Auditor General responds that he was never a party official or a minister (pointing to G. Savvides), but avoids stating that he had admitted to having been an active member of DIKO.
- Three more deaths: Negative record with 477 cases
- Racism: “Ladies” get away easy
- Budget: The government wants consensus
Slow drip for vaccine doses
Symbolic delivery of 4,500 vaccines on Saturday and small batches until March. Vaccination of President Anastasiades to be shown live from Presidential Palace on Monday.
- Taken from air for the first time since 1974: Images from ruin of Achna shock
- Red lines of the government: No give-and-take on GeSY (general health system) and foreclosures
- Open meetings of the investigative committee (on passports) after Epiphany – They are sorting through folders to focus on the blatant cases – D. Kalogirou: Concerns over personal data.
- President publicises (passport) findings and points fingers
- Handcuffs for Turkish migrant traffickers
- Sisters in Larnaca found guilty of racist attack
- The record of Praksitelis Vogazianos’s testimony: The 1963 Omorfita battles and the black December days
Substantive AKEL proposals on budget
Suggestions on health, rents, foreclosures, labour issues. Standing up for housing, pensioners, persons with disabilities. AKEL secretary general: “We do not walk in the clouds, we have a different philosophy.”
- Commission: Proposal on halloumi checks
- Lute returns, seeking common ground
- Through three “filters” and then publicity
- Covid-19: Three deaths and 477 new cases yesterday
- T/Cs won’t get from the first batch of vaccines. Not ready with their vaccination plan
- Slap on the wrist 750 euro fine for two sisters over racist attack
- Refugees (G/C displaced) cannot get housing loans. Problems also in separations
Brexit deal heads to the finish line
EU preparing a path for implementing agreement by January 1.
- Cyprus: Covid: no normal life until summer, new record cases
President knows something
Effort by some to cover up for law firms? (President) wonders why DIKO prefers Auditor General who was a member of the party but does not have the constitutional authority of the multi-member Investigative Committee. Findings of Kalogirou commission and all commissioners to be publicised. “They worry about the findings and want to hide evidence about (specific) law firms.”
- Vaccines coming on Saturday, vaccinations start on Sunday: Three dead and 34 in serious condition – President of the Republic will be vaccinated on Monday – Morphou Bishop: Don’t pay the fines, a rich person that will take them over has been found
- Racism case: Two women got away with 750 euro fine over the well known video
- Stella Kyriakidou: Vaccine safety more important than speed
- 13 migrants at Kato Pyrgos: Two Turkish traffickers in Police hands
Main News
Lute returns mid-January to seek common ground on 5+1
Haravgi, Phileleftheros
Negotiations Process
OVERVIEW
Haravgi reports that UNSG envoy Jane Holl Lute will return to Cyprus in mid-January in order to look for common ground on how to proceed with the informal 5+1 conference.
The newspaper points out that all sides agree on the need for the unofficial conference to be convened, but that they have differing perspectives on the goal of such a conference.
Lute is expected to return to Cyprus in the middle of January in an effort to find common ground between the sides which will allow the UN to move ahead with the goal of a solution within the parameters followed by the international organisation, Haravgi adds, citing information.
Phileleftheros reports that during a meeting with President Anastasiades regarding the state budget for 2021, AKEL secretary general Andros Kyprianou returned to the issue of the proposals submitted about two weeks ago by the opposition party on the Cyprus Problem and asked whether the President had feedback.
In statements made after the meeting, Kyprianou said that the President told him that he had read the proposals and made some initial comments. Kyprianou did not specify what the President had told him. Instead, he told journalists that AKEL calls on the President to realise that time is running out for Cyprus and its people.
He said that if the G/C side cannot make Turkey take back its aggressive policies and put an end to its moves in Varosha in order to open the way for substantive negotiations, things will become even worse for the future of the island. Kyprianou also expressed hope that the new year will bring new hope of progress on the Cyprus Problem.
In a statement, new T/C “foreign minister” Tahsin Ertugruloglu said that the T/C side will take part in a five-party meeting, but repeated that the agenda should include the option of two separate sovereign states on the basis of sovereign equality, and added that there cannot be a new effort to continue from where negotiations ended in Crans Montana in order to make a federation into reality.
Ertugruloglu also said that the issue discussed in this conference will have to be the aim of future negotiations. He said that either the two sides will sit on the table and accept that the idea of a federal solution is finished, or the process will not begin.
Phileleftheros reports that Ertugruloglu told the Anadolu news agency that there will be a deadline so that all G/C owners of Varosha properties will have the opportunity to appeal to the Immovable Properties Commission. He added that it is also in the interest of the G/Cs that the fenced-off city be opened.
Ertugruloglu also said that this is not just a situation where G/Cs will reclaim their properties since it needs to be recognised that Evkaf also has authority over Varosha.
In new statements, Turkish President Tayip Erdogan expressed hopes that the EU will move away from its strategic blindness that has distanced it from Turkey, and added that the country wishes to turn a new page in its relations with the EU and the US, Haravgi reports.
Erdogan also said that Turkey does not wish to take over anyone’s land or sovereignty, especially of neighbours, and added that the country is holding a dignified stance against threats to Turkish rights and sovereignty and that Ankara is only trying to protect the rights of the T/Cs and Azerbaijan.
The Turkish President also commented on the European Court of Human Rights decision that former leader of the HDP party Selahattin Demirtas should be released. Erdogan accused the court of taking a political decision and hypocrisy.
KEY ACTORS
Kyprianou (AKEL)
>> AKEL calls on the President to realise that time is running out for Cyprus and its people.
Ertugruloglu (T/C “Foreign Minister”)
>> T/C side will participate in 5+1 meeting but the agenda should include two separate sovereign states on the basis of sovereign equality.
>> Either two sides accept that idea of federal solution is finished, or process cannot begin.
>> There will be a deadline for G/C owners of properties in Varosha to appeal to the IPC.
Low number of vaccines arriving Saturday, TCs not ready to receive
Alithia, Cyprus Mail, Haravgi, Phileleftheros, Politis
Internal Security, CBMs
OVERVIEW
The dailies report that the first batch of vaccine doses for Cyprus will arrive in the country on Saturday, and vaccinations will start at care homes and the reference hospital on Sunday. About 8,000 persons are scheduled to be vaccinated during this first phase.
Phileleftheros reports that Cyprus as well as the rest of the EU are receiving less dosages than initially planned after Pfizer reviewed the amount of doses it can produce during the first three months of the year.
Haravgi reports that the T/C community will not be receiving vaccines from the first batch, but that the government is in communication with T/C “authorities” through the bicommunal Technical Committee for Health.
The Presidency’s diplomatic officer Pantelis Pantelides told journalists that the government had informed the T/C side in August that it was ready to provide vaccines to the north through the bicommunal committee. Last week, he added, the government requested specific numbers on the needs of the T/C community as well as information on the north’s vaccination plan.
The G/C and T/C heads of the committee and epidemiologists from both sides spoke last Tuesday about this issue, he added. The T/Cs informed the G/Cs that they would need about 200,000 vaccines and presented a draft of their vaccination plan, which they admitted was still a work in progress.
Pantelides said that the G/C experts gave suggestions to the T/C experts on the preparations that need to be carried out to receive the Pfizer vaccine, and that the Pfizer technician in Cyprus is available to them for any help. The technical committee will have further teleconferences to finalise the details.
When asked whether the T/Cs would receive vaccines from this first batch, Pantelides said that the intention was to give a small number to chronically ill patients, but that this is difficult given that the vaccination planning of the T/C community is not complete. He added that other technical issues regarding the transfer of the dosages to the north need to be settled.
Politis reports citing information that the T/C administration already has two fridges that can keep the Pfizer vaccine at the required temperature of minus 75 degrees Celsius, and that more fridges are expected to arrive. The G/C side has said it is ready to help transfer the doses to the north with special trucks, Politis reports.
The next batch of vaccines that will be received by the RoC is expected to contain 6,500 doses, which cover 3,250 people, Phileleftheros reports. Cyprus is expected to be able to vaccinate about 50,000 persons by the end of March.
European Commissioner for Health Stella Kyriakides told the newspaper that the number of doses is expected to be increased during the second quarter of 2021.
According to the Health Ministry’s vaccination plan, the population has been divided into six groups who will be vaccinated on the basis of their need and their vulnerability to the virus. The first group includes residents and staff in care homes, the staff of hospitals where coronavirus patients are being hospitalised and all intensive care units. The first group also includes all persons above 80 years old.
President Anastasiades is scheduled to be vaccinated on Monday at the Latsia vaccination centre and will then make statements from the Presidential Palace. Presidency press office head Victoras Papadopoulos said that this will be a symbolic act to encourage the population to be vaccinated.
According to data published by the Health Ministry, three new deaths and 477 new cases of coronavirus were recorded on Wednesday. 146 patients are being hospitalised with coronavirus, out of which 34 are in a serious condition.
Coastguard arrests Turkish human traffickers in Kato Pyrgos
Alithia, Phileleftheros
Migration & Citizenship
OVERVIEW
Phileleftheros writes that the RoC coastguard arrested two Turkish citizens who were acting as human traffickers and bringing 13 Syrian refugees to the occupied areas.
In an incident that took place in the early hours of Wednesday, the coast guard caught up with the boat after it had left 13 people in the occupied areas but before it was able to leave Cypriot waters on its way back to Turkey. The two Turkish citizens on board were arrested and their boat towed towards Pyrgos.
The traffickers’ boat had carried six men, three women and four children to occupied Limnitis before being caught. The migrants were allowed to cross into the government-controlled areas through an area of the buffer zone that is not being patrolled, according to RoC authorities.
The 13 Syrian refugees were checked by RoC authorities for coronavirus, registered at the Kato Pyrgos police station before being moved to a migrant reception centre.
The migrants told the police that they had been waiting for days for the weather to allow them to head to Cyprus, and that they had paid 2,000 euro each to the traffickers.
Kato Pyrgos community leader Nicos Cleanthous said after this event that the state should speed up the creation of Coast Guard infrastructure in the region.
European Commission submitted proposal on halloumi checks
Haravgi
EU Matters
OVERVIEW
The European Commission has submitted its proposal on the halloumi Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) file, which includes a provision for halloumi produced in the north to be inspected by an independent body, Haravgi reports.
Agriculture Minister Kostas Kadis told the newspaper that the RoC is basing its approach on the joint understanding reached between President Anastasiades, former T/C leader Mustafa Akinci and former European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker in 2015.
Kadis noted that the RoC asked the Directorate Generals of the Commission involved in the process to coordinate, since they each had different approaches which complicated the situation because of disagreements among technocrats.
Haravgi cites information that the European Commission recently submitted a proposal which provides for health and safety inspections for halloumi to be conducted by an independent body, in accordance with the 2015 agreement.
According to the newspaper, this proposal is seen as satisfactory by the government since the health inspection authorities of the RoC cannot conduct checks in the occupied areas.
Haravgi also cites the reactions of the T/C industry chamber president Candan Avunduk as reported in previous days by Kibris newspaper. According to a translation by the Press and Information Office, Avunduk told Kibris that the T/Cs ask for halloumi to be included in the Green Line Regulation in the same way as honey, fish and shrimps, and to be checked by an independent organisation.
He also said that the T/C trade chamber should be involved in the process since it was founded before 1974 and is thus recognised by the RoC. Avunduk said that the leaders had agreed that halloumi would be inspected by Bureau Veritas on behalf of the EU, but that the G/C leader broke the agreement by saying that the RoC would appoint Bureau Veritas.
Cypriot Roma continue to face challenges, Ombudswoman finds
Alithia
Human Rights
OVERVIEW
Conditions regarding the education, employment, access to services and access to housing for Cypriot Roma need to be improved, Ombudswoman Maria Stylianou-Lottides said in a statement, Alithia reports.
About 1,250 Roma live in Cyprus, half of whom live in the government-controlled areas. More specifically, about 650-700 Roma live in Agios Antonios and Polemidia in Limassol, and Makounta, Stavrokonnou and Polis Chrysochous in Paphos.
Cypriot Roma mainly speak gurbetcha (which is the local dialect of their language, though this is not explained in more detail in the report) and the T/C dialect, and few of them can speak some Greek. The Ombudswoman also notes facts such as the Cypriot Roma were never recognised as a separate ethnic group or minority in the 1960 constitution and that they chose to be included in the T/C community based on their religion and language.
After the 1974 invasion, they are reported to have moved to the occupied areas, with a significant number returning to the south after the checkpoints opened in 2003.
According to the Ombudswoman’s survey, the main problems faced by the community are related to children’s education, housing, access to the labour market, access to health services and social security.
The Ombudswoman’s office collected information on the community from their representatives and with the help of NGO CypROM, the only organisation in Cyprus involved in Roma welfare which is staffed by Roma and non-Roma people.
The office then surveyed the positions of each government department related to the challenges faced by the community. The Ombudswoman’s office included suggestions in its report which are not included in Alithia’s report.
Achna displaced record first images of abandoned village since 1974
Phileleftheros
Human Rights
OVERVIEW
Phileleftheros reports that G/C displaced from Achna have recorded the first images of their village since the war. The village is located in a military zone in the occupied areas and has been completely abandoned since the 1974 Turkish invasion.
In stills published by the newspaper, the village is seen to be lying in ruins and taken over by nature, with houses, schools, buildings such as the cooperative bank and the village’s cinema, as well as churches falling apart.
Phileleftheros recalls that during the 1973 census, the village had a population of 1,979 residents and had promising prospects given that it lay in the middle of the bus routes between Nicosia and Famagusta and due to its proximity to Larnaca.
The newspaper report also refers to testimonies of people who had to run away from the village during the Turkish invasion, as well as on the 1989 women’s march, when hundreds of women entered the village for the first time since 1974.
Cypriot MEP asks Commission on state of restored churches
Phileleftheros
Human Rights, EU Matters
OVERVIEW
Cypriot MEP Costas Mavrides (DIKO – S&D) submitted a parliamentary question on the issue of the treatment of churches and monuments renovated with EU funds in the north, Phileleftheros reports.
Mavrides referred to the case of the T/C authorities giving permission for the Archangelos Michael church in Lefkonoiko to be used for a charity market, when the original inhabitants of the village had been allowed to use the church once for a service since 2017 when it was renovated with EU funding.
The MEP also referred to the case of the theft of the doors of the recently renovated Agios Panteleimon Monastery in Myrtou. He added that this is not the first time that such an incident takes place, and that similar desecration had occurred in other churches that had been renovated and reconstructed with EU funds.
Mavrides requested that the European Commission investigate whether there has been any oversight related to its own remit, and proposed the creation of a mechanism that would ensure the protection of EU-funded projects in the occupied areas.