Front Page Headlines
Controversy at the municipal council over the ruins
The Archbishop claims that the listed buildings collapsed on their own from the rain. Society reacts but Nicosia municipality wants to think about it more. Postponement of the decision on measures for Saturday. Disagreements between AKEL and the Greens. The technical service and the mayor are suggesting a new agreement with the Archbishopric based on timeframes and provision for fines. The Archbishop, in two letters, promises to keep the terms set forth by the mayor for the reconstruction of the listed buildings.
- Cyprob-UK: Flexibility and compromise are the requirements for the 5+1 summit
- President at Seychelles: He paid out of his pocket the trip in 2015
- AKEL candidates: The list with the 56 will be tabled to the Central Committee
- Bank of Cyprus survey: Covid-19 has impacted 50% of households
Left hanging over Seychelles
Two trips, 42 passports, and doublespeak by the Presidential Palace’s executives. The House watchdog committee demands explanations about the Saudi (investor who owned the plane with which the president and his family travelled to Seychelles).
- He came and called for flexibility from everyone – London, behind closed doors supports but publicly keeps quiet about the BBF.
- AKEL announces its (election) ticket and raises the tone
- Discovery by Cypriot on tumour metastasis
- State pathologists have been put on the spot for refusing to carry out post-mortems (of people who died with Covid) – Heavy talk in parliament over coffins.
Passport to Low through ‘virtual’ companies
Wanted Malaysian Jho Low asked the help of a company specialising in helping its clients acquire foreign passports in order to buy the Republic of Cyprus’ ‘golden passport’, according to the research findings of the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP).
- No reference to a BBF solution
- The stakes of the informal summit (party reactions)
- The UK has removed Turkish officials from the sanctions list
- Reluctance to take measures against the Archbishop
Red flag raised after ‘flight link’
MPs query whether president’s use of a private jet for 2015 Seychelles holiday was connected to grant of passport.
- Raab: All parties must seize the latest opportunity for a solution in Cyprus – Here to support you, says UK minister.
The truth is elsewhere…
The health minister and OKYPY refute the auditor-general that state hospitals are collapsing. Constantinos Ioannou: Investments in capital expenditures for equipment and facilities over the next three years prove the government’s intentions and refute the claims for the sale of public hospitals. A new plan expected to change the situation is due in February.
- Cyprob: The UK Foreign Secretary wants compromise from everyone
- Like reheated food! – Parliament discussed again yesterday the president’s trip to Seychelles in 2015. President: I will reply to all the MPs’ questions.
- Important discovery by Cypriot scientists (they developed a new strategy to stop cancer metastasis)
Main News
Raab: All sides must show flexibility & compromise
Alithia, Cyprus Mail, Haravgi, Phileleftheros, Politis
Negotiations Process
OVERVIEW
The UK’s Foreign Secretary, Dominic Raab, called for flexibility by all parties yesterday during his visit to Cyprus for contacts ahead of the five-plus-one summit on the Cyprus problem to be convened by the UN Secretary-General (UNSG).
After meeting with President Nicos Anastasiades and Foreign Minister Nikos Christodoulides, Raab said he was pleased to be in Cyprus to renew the connections and friendship between the two countries and to help make progress in the upcoming talks.
Raab said the UK wanted to play a supporting role in helping the people of Cyprus, both sides of this dispute, to move things forward, to break the deadlock, to find a settlement that works in everyone’s interest.
Failure to reach a settlement after so many efforts will benefit no one, he said, calling on all sides to come to the talks with a willingness to demonstrate flexibility and compromise. He said he was very heartened by his conversations at the scope for that.
Raab said the UK wanted to work with the Cypriot people and the UN for a permanent, enduring and lasting end to the dispute and expressed hope that all parties would seize the opportunities that the 5+1 talks present to really change the conversation and give the children, the young people of the island, the brightest prospects for the future in years ahead.
He said that a reunited Cyprus can achieve its full potential as a beacon of democracy, stability and prosperity and would benefit both sides but also have a premium dividend for regional stability, security and prosperity.
Raab also said that the UK-Cyprus relationship was strong and that the two countries have shared values, shared legal systems, joint membership of the Commonwealth, and a very big web of people-to-people relations, including students.
“We have got great partnerships and a network of personal relations, particularly in education, science, research, and security, all of which serve our joint interests and contribute to our friendship. We want to continue strengthening those links and perhaps widen them as well.”
Christodoulides said Raab’s visit was as important as it was timely, given that it also coincides with efforts by the UNSG to resume negotiations for a comprehensive settlement of the Cyprus Problem for a bizonal bicommunal federation (BBF). He said they discussed extensively the latest developments with regard to the Cyprus problem, stressing that the UK’s role – both as a result of its capacity as a contracting party to the Treaty of Establishment and the Treaty of Guarantee, as well as its capacity as a Permanent Member of the Security Council – is of critical importance.
Christodoulides said he shared with Raab the government’s expectation that negotiations will resume soon, from the point where they were suspended at Crans-Montana and expressed readiness to continue negotiations on the basis of the UNSG’s framework, the existing convergences and the joint declaration of February 2014, while expressing hope that the same level of commitment will be displayed by all involved.
“It has to be abundantly clear that a comprehensive settlement must be in line with UN Security Council Resolutions, the UN Charter, EU law, values and principles,” he said, adding that a reunited Cyprus must be a functional state, a viable member state of the EU, a stable, reliable actor in its region. “A modern European state not tied back by anachronistic systems and structures that have no place in the 21st century.”
Christodoulides also said they both agreed that it was important for everyone involved to refrain from provocations that pose the risk of derailing the effort. He added that Raab was a scholar of international law, and very much understands the importance of upholding international law, including the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.
On Varosha, he thanked the UK for its constructive stance on agreeing on a strong Presidential Statement by the UN Security Council (UNSC) last October and repeated how regretful it is that despite international condemnation, Turkey was not deterred from proceeding with the implementation of its violations within the fenced area, contrary to UNSC resolutions.
He also said that the visit, the first of a UK Foreign Secretary since 2016 and after Brexit, heralds the opening of a new, very promising chapter in the long history of the special relationship Cyprus and the UK share. The minister said they also discussed at length the diverse, long-standing partnership Cyprus and the UK enjoy, and the array of shared interests and the potential for advancing these relations by mapping out concrete steps in the immediate and longer term.
Haravgi reports that main opposition AKEL called on Anastasiades to reaffirm the GC side’s commitment to the BBF and make clear that the talks will resume from where they left off in Crans-Montana. The party’s spokesman Stefanos Stefanou also said that Anastasiades’ back and forths and discussion on him favouring a two-state solution have tarnished the GC side’s credibility. He said the president ought to abandon these tactics otherwise the GC side will be unable to secure backing for efforts to curb Turkish demands for a partitionist solution.
EDEK and the Solidarity Movement refer to the dangers looming from the five-party summit, citing the UK’s role so far in the Cyprus problem, the Security Council, the various UNSG reports and its relations with Turkey. EDEK calls once more on Anastasiades to avoid any involvement with the five-party summit and call for an international summit instead with the participation of the five permanent members of the Security Council, the daily reports.
Politis, citing sources, reported that though Raab did not publicly refer to a BBF, the UK is positive to the possibility of a loose or decentralised federation since it deems that if a clear content is given to this term, it could be a compromise between the two sides. Diplomatic sources, however, told the daily there is concern about the British approach to what the Turkish side describes as sovereign equality. It seems that British officials reiterate terms such as community states (sovereign communities), for which no one can provide safe content, at least for now.
Phileleftheros reports that though Raab did not publicly refer to a BBF during his meetings with Anastasiades and Christodoulides, he was clear that there will be no change to the form of the solution. Citing diplomatic sources, the paper also reports that this omission by the British official does not appear to create any gaps since the latest UNSC resolution on the renewal of UNFICYP’s mandate that refers to a BBF solution was written by the British, as has been the case with Cyprus resolutions over time. Raab’s reference to the reunification of Cyprus is also interpreted as a response to the Turkish position on a two-state solution, the paper reports.
Haravgi, on the other hand, reports that Raab’s omission to refer to a BBF and call for “flexibility and compromise” stirred reactions among political forces.
Toumazos Tsielepis (AKEL’s head of the Cyprus problem Bureau and former member of the negotiating team) told Alpha TV on Thursday that Britain removed from the latest resolution on UNFICYP, reference to the continuation of the talks from where they left off in Crans-Montana, the 2014 joint declaration, past convergences and the Guterres Framework. This, in practice, means that things could lead to a negotiation with great dangers even for the existence of the Republic of Cyprus (RoC), Tsielepis said. He also pointed out that based on international conventions, if the RoC is abolished and succeeded by another state, then the Treaty of Establishment will also be questioned and the British will face problems with the British bases.
Tsielepis but also former member of the negotiating team Marios Eliades warned the GC side that if issues are reopened that annul achieved convergences, it will not be possible to reach an agreement on these again.
Eliades said that Christodoulides, to Raab’s call for flexibility, ought to point out that the GC side will be flexible but without violating the basis of the solution and the BBF prospects, Haravgi reported.
Alithia reports that Raab is calling for compromise and that he was encouraged by the talks he has had on this issue.
KEY ACTORS
Raab (UK)
>> UK wants to support both sides in Cyprus to break deadlock & find lasting settlement that works in everyone’s interest & give new generation the brightest future.
>> Calls on all sides to demonstrate flexibility and compromise at the 5+1 talks & feels encouraged that this will be the case.
>> Failure to reach a settlement will benefit no one while a reunited Cyprus can achieve its full potential as a beacon of democracy, stability & prosperity & would benefit both sides.
Christodoulides
>> Raab’s visit important & timely, coinciding with UNSG’s efforts to resume talks for a BBF.
>> UK’s role in Cyprob very important since it is directly involved through the Treaties of Establishment & Guarantee, & as UNSC P5 member.
>> GC side expects talks to resume soon, from point they left off in Crans-Montana & based on Guterres framework, convergences & February 2014 joint declaration. Hopes other parties will show the same level of commitment.
>> Cyprob solution must be in line with UNSC resolutions, the UN Charter, EU law values and principles while a reunited Cyprus must be a functional state, without being tied back by anachronistic systems and structures that have no place in the 21st century.
>> Important for everyone, including Turkey, to refrain from provocations that pose the risk of derailing the UNSG’s effort.
>> Saddened that Turkey, despite international condemnation, continues its violations within the fenced area of Varosha, contrary to UNSC resolutions.
UK adopts EU sanctions on East Med drillings but removes names
Alithia, Haravgi
Energy
OVERVIEW
The dailies report that the UK has removed from its new list of sanctions on unauthorised drilling activities in the Eastern Mediterranean two Turkish officials on whom the EU had imposed freezing of assets, without any explanations as to this move.
The UK ratified on Wednesday the transposition into national law of the framework of available sanctions imposed by the EU, including those against persons and entities involved in unauthorised drilling activities in the Eastern Mediterranean.
It removed from the list, however, Vice-President of the Turkish Petroleum Corporation (TPAO) Mehmet Ferruh Akalin and the company’s Deputy Director of the Exploration Department, Ali Coskun Namoglu.
Presenting the new sanctions regime to the House of Commons, Minister of State for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, James Cleverly said that the Unauthorised Drilling Activities in the Eastern Mediterranean Regulations aim to discourage any unauthorised hydrocarbon exploration or production activities in the territorial sea or exclusive economic zone of the Republic of Cyprus or on its continental shelf.
The Labour Party’s shadow minister for foreign and commonwealth affairs and international development, Stephen Doughty, said he wholeheartedly supports the rolling over of sanctions. He said that unauthorised drilling activities in the Eastern Mediterranean threaten the process of reaching a delimitation agreement and a bizonal, bicommunal political settlement for the whole of Cyprus.
The move was also welcomed by the National Federation of Cypriots in the UK, which expressed its disappointment, however, by the removal of the two Turkish officials from the list, the dailies report.
Marcoullis flags concern over ‘derailment’ of Cyprob basis
Cyprus Mail
Negotiations Process
OVERVIEW
The paper reports that former foreign minister and member of the Cyprus negotiating team Erato Kozakou-Marcoullis expressed her disappointment on Thursday because she was not officially informed by the Presidential Palace that she would not be part of the process going forward.
The daily cites Marcoullis’ statements to Politis radio that President Nicos Anastasiades recently held two meetings with the new negotiating team, of which it seems she was no longer a member and was not officially informed of this.
Marcoullis had been head of the working group on properties since 2014 and in October 2016 was also included in the negotiating team. She said it was the president’s right to choose his advisers but that he or someone had to officially inform her and other former members of the negotiating team of the change.
Marcoullis also raised a question as to why there has been a change to the composition as new talks loom and expressed concerns that this is the first time in all the years she has been handling the Cyprus problem, going back to the 1980s, that “a derailment” is occurring.
She said this was the first time that both Turkey and the TC leader reiterate there will be no discussion on a federal solution with the UN Secretary-General stating he was willing to listen to other ideas from the parties if they shared a common view of the way forward.
Marcoullis said this is also the first time that there is no convergence of opinion between the two leaders on what the basis of talks actually is.
UCy research team develops new cancer cell inhibitor
Alithia, Phileleftheros
Human Rights
OVERVIEW
The dailies report that researchers at the University of Cyprus’ Department of Biological Sciences developed a new inhibitor aimed at dealing with cancer and its metastasis.
According to the dailies this is a pioneering research, funded by the Research & Innovation Foundation and published in the scientific journal Cell Communication and Signaling entitled ‘FAK displacement from focal adhesions: a promising strategy to target processes implicated in cancer progression and metastasis’.
The research presents the development of a pioneering approach that purposefully inhibits the growth and mobility of various types of cancer cells. This methodology focuses on the use of a new inhibitor developed by the team of researchers that targets the kinase of focal adhesions, known as FAK (Focal Adhesion Kinase). According to the analysis, FAK is a protein whose action has been associated with the promotion of tumour progression and metastasis and is therefore an important therapeutic target.
The results of the research team of the University of Cyprus indicate that the new strategy developed leads to the suppression of a wide range of FAK functions, such as its action as a kinase and its action as an adapter molecule. This results in the inhibition of the metastatic capacity of cancer cells, the dailies report.