Front Page Headlines
Shy opening with tables outside
Food and beverage businesses open today, while in Limassol they carry their own Carnival tune.
- National Council: Towards the final stretch for the 5+1 with strong disagreements
- Halloumi file: Successful deal in Brussels
- (Candidate DISY MP) Eleni Stavrou: We lost our national and natural orientation
- AstraZeneca vaccine: Temporary suspension also in Cyprus until March 18
Block of AstraZeneca (vaccine)
Cyprus too announced last night suspension of the vaccine in question until Thursday, including. Alarm was raised in Europe. Yesterday’s EMA (European Medicines Agency) meeting did not convince the member states.
- Coordinated efforts ahead of the informal summit – Nicosia is in a race so that the process does not stray (from the agreed framework).
- The Attila welcomed pilgrims with an exercise
- 6,000 tonnes of unsold halloumi remain in the fridges – Cheesemakers and cow farmers are desperate.
- Israel’s reservations to the Turkish rapprochement
- No trust to politicians: Cyprus’ youth is taking a stand
- 40 people were fined over the Carnival gatherings in Limassol
The 1,413 applications for citizenship a thorny issue the government must deal with
If it does not abide by the European Commission’s recommendations, the infringement process will continue.
- Cyprus problem: The five-party summit a priority in all levels
- The conservation of the Ancient Salamis mosaics starts in May
- The razor wire cannot prevent migratory flows, nor the loss of votes, nor reactions
- Suspension of vaccinations for the AstraZeneca vaccine also in Cyprus until Thursday – Hospitalisations have risen to 208.
Experts aghast as Limassol partied
‘You’re the ones pulling the trigger,’ doctor tells hundreds of carnival revellers.
- Restaurants, bars prepare for reopening
Mr Minister help us. Do what you did in Chlorakas
Huge problems from migrants. SOS to Nicos Nouris from the Nicosia shop owners and Droushia residents. Τhe capital’s historic centre has become an open prison, a dangerous ghetto due to the over-gathering of migrants. Crime, fear and terror have risen. At the schools of Droushia the children of Syrian migrants outnumber those of the locals. Young people choose other areas to live.
- National Council today for the Cyprus problem and the five-party summit
- Costas Apostolides: The ‘unknown’ advisor of the presidents on the Cyprus problem
- Suspension of vaccinations: No to AstraZeneca from Cyprus too
- We are a joke… – The results of the crowds (in Limassol) will be seen in the coming days.
Main News
Anastasiades briefs political leaders on Cyprob, informal summit
Alithia, Cyprus Mail, Haravgi, Phileleftheros, Politis
Negotiations Process, Regional/International Relations
OVERVIEW
The National Council will convene on Tuesday morning to discuss the Cyprus problem and April’s five-party summit in Geneva, the dailies report.
President Nicos Anastasiades is expected to brief the political leaders on his contacts with UNSG special envoy Jane Holl Lute, the EU High Commissioner, Josep Borrell, and President of the European Council Charles Michel.
Anastasiades is scheduled to also meet with the ‘small’ negotiating team and the team of law experts to discuss the scenarios and legal studies for very specific aspects of the Cyprus problem.
According to Politis, the final text will be the legal basis on which the GC side will base its arguments at the five-party summit in Geneva and beyond.
The daily adds that the political parties are expected to submit their suggestions while EDEK and DIKO continue to express their objections ahead of the 5+1 summit.
Haravgi also cites statements by former permanent secretary of the foreign ministry and now member of the ‘small’ negotiating team, Tasos Tzionis, that political equality could lead to sovereign equality. The daily said Tzionis’ public position was surprising. It adds that the team he is a member of, which includes law experts and academicians, have been tasked with preparing a study on federation, decentralised federation but also political equality as this issue came to the table from the Turkish side as a dilemma between “political equality and sovereign equality”.
Citing information, Haravgi reports that members of the expanded ‘large negotiating team’ have not been invited to the dismay of its members because it is yet not clear whether their contribution to this new effort will be needed or not.
According to Phileleftheros Nicosia is in a race to make sure that all moves on the Cyprus problem will be within the framework set by the UN resolutions and that the five-party summit in Geneva next month will be a continuation of the efforts so far and not a new starting point for a solution on a different basis. Citing sources, it reports that Nicosia is in contact with the five permanent members of the Security Council ahead of the informal summit. The aim of this mobilisation is for the P5 to monitor the developments in the Cyprus issue to prevent actions that will be outside the UN framework. It is not ruled out that these moves will act as a counterweight to any moves made by the British side that are recorded with suspicion from the Cypriot side, Phileleftheros reports. It adds that Foreign Minister Nikos Christodoulides’ telephone conversation on Monday with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov, was part of Nicosia’s contacts with the P5. The two FMs discussed bilateral relations and regional developments and perspectives in relation to the Cyprus problem.
Haravgi reported that it is expected that the preparation and shaping of moves in view of the five-party conference will be at the forefront in the next few weeks until it is detected whether or not there is a willingness by the Turkish side to abandon its position for a two-state solution. Opinions and assessments, however, are divided as some estimate that only with substantial US intervention towards Turkey can there be a surprise from the occupying country, the daily reported.
Alithia reports that it is certain that Anastasiades will consult again with the political leaders on whether they will escort him to Geneva.
The daily also reports that the House plenum will discuss developments on the Cyprus problem ahead of the five-party summit on Friday. The session will be between 10am and 6pm with a two-hour break at 1pm.
Alithia also reports that Turkey is being provocative again, ahead of the 62nd round of exploratory talks with Greece, set to take place in Athens today. Ankara sent Greece, Israel and the EU a diplomatic note demanding they seek its permission for activities involving its East Mediterranean continental shelf. The note followed the signing last week of a memorandum of cooperation between Greece, Cyprus and Israel for the creation of an electrical connection network between the three countries through the EuroAsia Interconnector project.
Alithia, in another article hosts an interview with Costas Apostolides, a retired economist and political scientist who was working at the foreign ministry and wrote several reports on the Cyprus problem while he had also acted as advisor to the president during the Makarios, Spyros Kyprianou, Giorgos Vassiliou and Glafcos Clerides administrations. He also contributed to work in 2004 on the Annan Plan mainly on the issue of property. Replying to a question on what needs to be done on the Cyprus problem, Apostolides said the GC side needs to stop playing games because it is not a superpower and must go to the five-party summit and do what’s possible to break the deadlock so that substantive talks resume. “We must do our part to ensure that the talks succeed and that if they fail, the responsibility does not burden our side,” he said. He added that that is why the GC side ought to follow the policy of the founder of ruling party DISY, Glafcos Clerides, according to Alithia.
Two-state solution not acceptable, Conservative MPs say
Alithia, Haravgi, Phileleftheros
Negotiations Process, Regional/International Relations
OVERVIEW
The dailies cite a letter by three pro-Cypriot Conservative MPs to the UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab who argue that division of Cyprus into two states, or a confederation, would not be an acceptable outcome.
The papers cite a report by the Cyprus News Agency that saw the letter. In it, Theresa Villiers, Sir Roger Gale and Matthew Offord stress their longstanding view that a negotiated settlement to reunite Cyprus must lead to a bizonal, bicommunal federal (BBF) state with a single citizenship and a single international personality. They note that this approach is consistent with numerous UN resolutions and has been backed by successive UK governments over many years. They reject other propositions, clearly stating that division of Cyprus into two states or a confederation would not be an acceptable outcome.
The three MPs welcome Raab’s recent visit to Cyprus but note that during that trip he did not restate UK support for a BBF nor at the House of Commons when answering questions of foreign policy.
They point out that Raab, responding to a question by Labour MP Bambos Charalambous, had described BBF as “a starting point”. In the letter they quote this and urge Raab to confirm the continuing support of the British government for this longstanding policy position.
Phileleftheros also reports that Adouloti Kerynia (Free Kyrenia), a group established by Kyrenia refugees, sent a letter to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, calling on him to seek a change to the US policy on the Cyprus problem. They reassured Blinken that such a thing would be a relief also to the GC leaders whose policy for a federal solution was contrary to the wishes of the Cypriot people. The group argued that the GCs proved at the 2004 referendum they did not agree with a federal solution. A change to this policy would also benefit the US, the group said, according to the daily.
Group of farmers support Astromeritis wire fence
Alithia, Haravgi, Phileleftheros
Internal Security, Migration & Citizenship, Human Rights
OVERVIEW
Phileleftheros reports that Evroagrotikos farmers group said they received reassurances from Interior Minister Nicos Nouris that they will be given unobstructed access to their fields in the Astromeritis area where the razor wire was erected to stop the illegal crossing of migrants from the north. It also said it did not participate in the protest last Saturday in Astromeritis because it was organised by a specific political party for electioneering purposes.
Evroagrotikos also said that the methodical channelling of Islamist Muslims by the Turks to the free areas cannot continue as there are serious risks, if this continues for five years, for a change in the demographic character of Cyprus with unpredictable consequences for Hellenism and Christianity on the island. The farmers’ association also said that Nouris informed them that an average of 37 illegal migrants enter the free areas daily, especially from the specific area, while a smuggling network operates there in both sides of the divide.
Haravgi reports that the type of razor wire used by the government in Astromeritis is usually used for delaying and not averting troops from advancing. It adds that this issue has turned into a boomerang for the government which, for months, has been mulling over this monstrosity and has now went ahead with it to prevent migrant flows but also the loss of voters to far right ELAM.
Citing a report by DW.COM on the installation of the razor wire and the reactions by the GC and TC sides Haravgi reports that the German news outlet recalls that this action by the government is the latest in a series of controversial policies to manage the refugee crisis after Nouris took over the portfolio of the Ministry of Interior on December 1, 2019. These include ship repatriation practices of vessels trying to reach the Cypriot shores, the conversion of the first reception centre for refugees and migrants, Pournara, in a closed detention centre invoking legislation to limit the coronavirus pandemic but also the ban on the settlement of refugees in Chlorakas in Paphos to protect the demographic character of the area.
Alithia, in the meantime, reports that shop owners in the old part of Nicosia and a group of Droushia residents, in separate letters to Nouris, called for measures similar to those taken in Chlorakas.
The around 300 members of the association of shop owners in the pedestrianised area in old Nicosia, citing numerous problems caused by the mass gathering of migrants in their area, called on Nouris to bar entrance and movement for all asylum seekers who do not legally work or reside in the area.
Similarly, the group of Droushia residents express their concerns over the settlement in recent years of many Syrian families in their community which led to the alteration of the village’s demographics while young people now prefer to live in other areas. They said that around 30 children of Syrian migrants attend the schools of the village and outnumber the children of the locals. This is causing problems in the education of children as there are difficulties in communication but also in understanding the language, the group said, calling on the minister to introduce similar measures as in Chlorakas, the daily reported.
Pilgrimage in occupied Dherynia with the sound of cannons
Phileleftheros
CBMs, Human Rights, EU Matters
OVERVIEW
The daily reports that hundreds of Dherynia residents and from the Red Soil villages, had the opportunity to go on Monday on a pilgrimage to the small 12th century church of Ayia Marina in the occupied part of Dherynia but had to endure the sound of fires shot as a Turkish military exercise was underway nearby.
According to the paper, until early afternoon, pilgrims had to endure the sound of machine guns and cannons as an exercise was taking place in the area of Ayios Memnonas in the occupied part of Famagusta. This was a move by the occupation army that hurt many Dherynia residents since it reminded them of the summer of 1974, it said.
This was the third consecutive year that the UN and the Attila allow this pilgrimage to take place, Phileleftheros reports.
Technical Committee on Cultural Heritage continues its work
Haravgi
CBMs, Human Rights
OVERVIEW
The daily reports that after the preservation of the mosaics in Afendrika in Ayia Triada and Ayios Eulalios, the bicommunal Technical Committee on Cultural Heritage will start in May the preservation of three mosaics in the archaeological sites of ancient Salamis and Engomi in Famagusta.
The project is one of the many that will be carried out and many others that have been completed at a cost of more than €20m with the contribution of the EU and UNDP for the restoration of cultural heritage sites with the love and generous contribution of the bicommunal committee, the daily reported.
GC co-chair of the committee, Takis Hadjidemetriou, told Haravgi that despite the pandemic and the closed crossing points, the committee members continue to cooperate. The proof is in the projects completed within the first months of 2021 but also the ones expected to start, he said.
The daily said that the Technical Committee on Cultural Heritage is a model of cooperation between people who love their homeland and of people who do not even believe in the so-called rapprochement because, as they explain, they have never felt enemies nor did they feel there was distance between them because the monuments they preserved together to illuminate the common future, to them, are common roots from the painful past.