Front Page Headlines
Famous ‘investors’ that… have made us the talk internationally
‘P’ reveals seven more people for whom ‘shadows’ arise. The possibility of having to present a vaccination certificate or negative test for the public’s movements a headache.
- President’s response to Tatar: ‘Proud Turks’ but with… Cypriot passports
- Five more deaths yesterday: On the course of an unlock with… hesitations
- Tourism: Restart to save the second half of 2021
Lockdown on the scale
Three scenarios before the Council of Ministers for its lifting or extension
- 200,000 TCs with Cypriot IDs: Officials of the pseudo-state are registered citizens of the RoC
- Lute to return after the parliamentary elections
- Shouts, fainting, inconvenience: Third-world conditions at a vaccination centre in Limassol
- Special subsidy scheme for private museums
Government in the role of itinerant salesman of ‘golden’ passports
With one hand they submitted applications and with they other they approved them, for the benefit of their family businesses
- Cyprus problem: President Anastasiades waiting for reactions to Turkish positions
- TC opposition: Two-state policy is not accepted
- Pandemic: Overcrowding and fainting for vaccines in Limassol
- New quarry zone near the canyons of Androlikou!
- Police to march to Presidential Palace. They’re complaining they’ve been left alone…
‘Passport report vindicates audit’
Auditor general’s office reiterated it had been warned off looking into affair and reveals details
- Hotels hope to host locals after lockdown
360,000 TCs have secured documents of the Republic of Cyprus
European citizens: On the one hand they undermine us, on the other… Tatar secured an RoC ID which has expired.
- The Turks are blowing up every bridge: Volley fire against Anastasiades because he referred to compatriots
- Drop in AKP’s numbers, Tayyip Erdogan losing ground
- On naturalisations: New pre-election announcement by Odysseas
- The vaccines and tests of inconvenience
- Coronavirus: Five more people lost the battle yesterday
- Tourism: Hopes for the second half of the year
Main News
Anastasiades, Tatar spar over TC community’s RoC membership
Alithia, Cyprus Mail, Haravgi, Phileleftheros, Politis
Migration & Citizenship, Negotiations Process
OVERVIEW
A spat between the island’s two leaders over the citizenship affiliation of TCs continued Tuesday, the dailies report.
The dailies report that in response to a statement issued by TC leader Ersin Tatar, who said according to Politis that TCs are “proud to be Turks, and grandchildren of the Ottomans who invaded Cyprus in 1571 and turned it into a Turkish homeland,” President Nicos Anastasiades expressed his bewilderment and referred to the fact that TCs are holders of passports or other documents that make them citizens of the Republic of Cyprus (RoC).
Anastasiades said that on the one hand, one of the arguments that the TC side developed during the informal Geneva summit was that TCs are co-founders of the RoC, and on the other hand Tatar claims TCs were insulted by his reference to the TC community as his compatriots. Addressing Tatar, Anastasiades asked whether the 97,000 TCs who hold a Cypriot ID card and a Cypriot passport and enjoy all the benefits that Cypriot European citizens do should be ashamed, and whether this should also apply to Tatar’s associates who also hold such documents. Anastasiades said he does not want to get involved in a confrontation but added that patience has its limits.
Phileleftheros reports that ‘prime minister’ Ersan Saner and Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) spokesman Omer Celik issued statements along the same lines as Tatar. The paper adds that TC ‘foreign minister’ Tahsin Ertugruloglu also chimed in to state that a solution will not be achieved as long as one side is being treated as a state and the other as a community.
Politis reports citing population census data that the number of TCs holding official RoC documents is much higher, indicating that around 160,000 TCs hold an RoC ID card and around 120,000 hold other official documents such as passports and birth certificates. Phileleftheros and Alithia put the latter figure at 200,000. Politis and Alithia report that nine out of 11 TC ‘ministers’ and the majority of the TC representation that accompanied Tatar to Geneva are also holders of a RoC passport. Alithia reports that Tatar too is a holder of an RoC ID card which has now expired.
KEY ACTORS
Anastasiades
>> In Geneva TC side argued that TCs are co-founders of RoC and now Tatar is insulted over reference to TCs as compatriots
>> 97,000 TCs, including associates of Tatar, hold a Cypriot ID card and a Cypriot passport and enjoy all the benefits that Cypriot European citizens do
Tatar
>> TCs are proud to be Turks, grandchildren of Ottoman invaders
Ertugruloglu
>> A solution will not be achieved as long as one side is being treated as a state and the other as a community
FM to hold contacts with Latvian, Lithuanian counterparts
Alithia, Cyprus Mail, Phileleftheros, Politis
Negotiations Process, Regional/International Relations
OVERVIEW
Foreign Minister Nikos Christodoulides is scheduled to hold contacts in Latvia and Lithuania on Wednesday and Thursday, with talks expected to focus on Cyprus problem developments and EU-Turkey relations, Alithia and Phileleftheros report.
On Wednesday, Christodoulides will be departing for Latvia for contacts with his Latvian counterpart Edgars Rinkevics, before flying to Lithuania to hold discussions with his Lithuanian counterpart Gabrielius Landsbergis.
The papers report that Christodoulides on Tuesday also met with the French Ambassador to Cyprus Salina Grenet-Catalano, who later tweeted that France is fully committed to the UN solution framework and fully supports the UN Secretary General’s (UNSG) efforts regarding Cyprus.
Politis reports that President Nicos Anastasiades on Tuesday reiterated that the government will be embarking on an info campaign that will seek to secure appropriate responses from the UN, the EU and the international community to the positions tabled by the Turkish side in Geneva. Anastasiades said these positions were outside the parameters delineated by UN decisions but also the UNSG’s mandate and Good Offices mission.
“Our effort is through an international campaign, to have similar reactions from the UN, the EU and countries that can exert influence on Turkey, in relation to its positions on the Cyprus issue which are outside the parameters and resolutions of the UN,” Anastasiades said according to Cyprus Mail. Asked whether there was a possibility for change of the situation given the Turkish side’s position, Anastasiades responded that “the question is whether they calculated the cost they will cause to our Turkish Cypriot compatriots with the isolation to which they lead them,” the paper adds. Anastasiades added that it is not possible for the Turkish side’s positions to be accepted by the international community, nor by the EU.
Tatar however reiterated on Tuesday that a two-state solution is the only way to solve the Cyprus problem, noting according to Cyprus Mail and Alithia that TC sovereignty is a historic right and is not under discussion. In statements announcing that a new airport is to be built in the north and named after Fazil Kucuk, Tatar said Geneva was “a gamechanger” and that the Turkish side made historic steps there.
Meanwhile, Phileleftheros reports that Nicosia doesn’t expect the UNSG’s special envoy Jane Holl Lute to return to Cyprus to lay the groundwork for the next Cyprob meeting until after parliamentary elections set to be held at the end of the month.
The paper writes that the combination of the upcoming elections with a hesitancy on the part of the UN to move too fast in taking the next step in the Cyprus peace process indicates that Lute’s next trip to Cyprus will be scheduled for after May. The paper adds that it is expected that deliberations for the scheduling of Lute’s visits to the island and the capitals of the three guarantor powers will begin in the second half of May.
KEY ACTORS
Grenet-Catalano (France)
>> France is fully committed to the UN solution framework and fully supports the UNSG’s efforts regarding Cyprus
Anastasiades
>> GC side to embark on info campaign seeking to draw appropriate responses from UN, EU and international community to Turkey’s positions, which fall outside UN parameters and UNSG’s mandate
>> Appears that Turkey has not calculated the cost of their positions to TC compatriots, who will be led to isolation
Tatar
>> Two-state solution is the only way to solve the Cyprus problem
>> TC sovereignty is a historic right and is not under discussion
>> Geneva was a gamechanger and Turkish side made historic steps there
GC authorities exerting efforts to lift crossing restrictions for enclaved
Haravgi
Internal Security
OVERVIEW
In comments to Haravgi, Presidential Commissioner Photis Photiou said his office is exerting efforts on a daily basis via UNFICYP to see crossing restrictions lifted for the GC enclaved.
Photiou said specific proposals have been submitted to UNFICYP, including a proposal for the enclaved to be permitted to pay a short visit of a few hours to government-controlled areas by presenting a negative PCR test at crossing points.
Haravgi reports that the enclaved have been unable to cross to government-controlled areas while their relatives have also been unable to visit them since November last year due to restrictions imposed by TC authorities at checkpoints. The paper cites diplomatic sources that said that the Republic has exerted efforts to see restrictions lifted, with the process stalling due to the epidemiological conditions on both sides.
The diplomatic sources told the paper that for restrictions to be lifted, the epidemiological situation on both sides must return to the lower levels seen in the period before last November, so that TC authorities will be unable to claim that restrictions must remain in place due to public health concerns.