GCC Press Review 9 May 2021

Front Page Headlines

Sunday Mail

Safe pass will be long-term

Digital ‘safe pass’ to be rolled out in July, interim system will be in place tomorrow

  • UN chief cites Cyprus to showcase his own tenacity
  • Business: Turkey’s East Med claims are going nowhere
  • Election apathy: Abstention is set to be the winner in the upcoming parliamentary elections as apathy rules
  • Opinion: ‘Squaring the political circle’ in Cyprus

Simerini

Opening by Turkey toward the Gulf and Mediterranean

At a time when Nicosia is announcing an international campaign for the Cyprus problem…

  • Cyprus problem: Raw Turkish blackmailing of UN, EU and Government
  • Analysis: The squaring of the circle after the Five-party
  • Historic retrospection: The principle of sovereign equality and the Informal Meeting
  • Biden fully abandoning the region: Turning toward Asia and moving toward a complete break with Turkey
  • …Freedom of the press: New lawsuits against TC journalists
  • Loria Markides (opinion): The maximalist demands of neo-Ottoman Turkey
  • Lazaros A. Mavros (opinion): Pen holders and ‘thou art reft of ears and mind and eyes’
  • Marinos Sizopoulos (opinion): Informal 5party summit – Results and conclusions
  • Christodoulos Yiallourides (opinion): Turkish Cypriot active contradictions

Politis

Odysseas-Hasapopoulos before the investigative committee

Cypra case: Who was in cahoots with who?

  • EU-Turkey relations: The five-party and the European Parliament’s role
  • AKEL vs DISY: St. Stephanou: We’re faced with permanent partition. N. Tornaritis: The dilemma is federation or partition
  • How has the Cyprus problem ended us?
  • Cyprus: Moscow halting Russian investments

Phileleftheros

Bridging ideas from the UN

Antonio Guterres preparing a squaring of the circle on the basis of a British formula. Equal distances from New York over the stance held by the sides at the informal (summit)!

  • Informal Geneva summit of April 27-29: The GC side’s step-by-step analyses of developments
  • Prepublication from Y. Omirou’s book: The backstage of the Copenhagen summit of 2002
  • Degenerating process = degenerating result
  • Will Biden also dare for Cyprus?

Kathimerini

The portal revealed a technological nakedness

The RoC seems like a digitally unfortified state, since the vaccination portal dragged out from under the rug decades-long deficiencies.

  • Cyprus problem: Nicosia’s pressure lever
  • USA offers Turkey Scottish shower
  • Nicholas Papadopoulos: The Presidential Palace directed a network of interests

Haravgi

Averof too at the forefront of passports conferences

The entire engine of the government and DISY in the industry of ‘golden’ passports

  • Parliamentary elections: DISY will ‘pay’ for the Cyprus problem and corruption

Alithia

Safe pass: How we will move around as of tomorrow

Survival guide after the lockdown – All new measures in detail. At which places will a safe pass be mandatory and at which it won’t. What will be the case for vaccinated visitors to Cyprus. Achilleas Demetriades on the constitutionality of the safe pass.

  • Anastasiades: Stop from EU to two states
  • Analysis: The two-state solution is not moving forward, for the time being…

Main News

Anastasiades says EU partners firmly oppose 2-state solution


Alithia, Cyprus Mail, Haravgi, Kathimerini, Phileleftheros, Politis
Negotiations Process

OVERVIEW

President Nicos Anastasiades said Saturday that after briefing EU partners in Portugal, they strongly expressed the position that it will never be possible for them to accept Turkey’s proposal for a Cyprus solution, an announcement by the Presidency said, Alithia reports.

The announcement said that in statements after briefing EU leaders in the margins of the Porto summit, Anastasiades said he had the opportunity to brief participants on the developments of the informal Geneva summit. According to Alithia, Anastasiades said he explained the GC side’s determination to contribute to efforts seeking to find common ground, allowing the UN Secretary General (UNSG) Antonio Guterres to call for a resumption of negotiations so that a solution could be found on the basis of UN resolutions and past convergences. But, Anastasiades said, despite efforts exerted, Turkey arrived with new claims outside UN parameters, such as the claim for the creation of two independent states and tabling the precondition that the TC community is recognised as an independent entity before any dialogue can begin.

Anastasiades said he also warned that the European Council summit in June, which is of crucial importance for EU-Turkey relations, will be “heavily affected if Turkey continues to insist on a completely unacceptable and illegal claim.” He said EU partners showed understanding and were clear that they would never accept a two-state solution.

Politis reports that given that any developments in the Cyprus peace process will come after the June EUCO, the summit is taking on a crucial importance, as also seen through the campaign that has been undertaken by Anastasiades himself and Foreign Minister Nikos Christodoulides to ensure support for a solution in the form of a bi-zonal, bicommunal federation (BBF) with political equality. At the same time, the paper notes, the government is also seeking to ensure that EU will not grant Ankara any of its wishes relating to the customs union or visa liberalisation, since the ball has already begun rolling as regards increased funding to Ankara for migration management.

Kathimerini reports that it is unlikely that the outcome of the informal Geneva summit will have an immediate impact on the course of EU-Turkey relations, which the paper writes are affected by different dynamics and interests. Big EU players and institutions want to move forward in the areas of migration and economic relations through the customs union. But the paper writes that progress in the Cyprus problem is a central piece of the puzzle of the larger picture of EU-Turkey relations, with the EU alert in view of a second informal summit.

As regards the Cyprus problem, Kathimerini reports that Brussels have noted both Tatar’s insistence on two states, which is considered unfeasible by both the EU and the UN, and Turkey’s encouragement towards this direction, but also the GC side’s unwillingness to truly embrace efforts seeking to find common ground on the issue of political equality.

Kathimerini reports that the second informal summit on Cyprus will take place by September at the latest, and most likely in New York. In the meantime, UN teams in New York and Nicosia will be in constant contact with parties to prepare the next steps. The paper writes that the UNSG’s special envoy Jane Holl Lute is expected to fly into Cyprus in June after the parliamentary elections, and then in July again before the summer break. The EU also remains ready to appoint a representative to the UN Good Offices team in the event that negotiations resume, and appears determined to not let the Cyprus problem backslide and the overall support given toward a reunification and the TC community over the past 10 or so years go to waste.

Kathimerini also reports citing information that after the Geneva summit, the EU Foreign Policy chief Josep Borrell issued a stern warning to the Turkish Foreign Minister Melvut Cavusoglu that if there is no progress in a Cyprus problem solution, then there is a high risk that progress in EU-Turkey relations will be blocked.

Meanwhile, Cyprus Mail and Alithia report that UNSG Antonio Guterres, speaking on Friday night in New York before the UN General Assembly in a dialogue as the candidate for his current position as UN chief, highlighted that conflict prevention and mediation was a key element of his activities and gave the Cyprus five-party summit in Geneva as the example. In a tweet, Cyprus’ permanent representative to the UN Andreas Hadjichrysanthou said Guterres’ point was that “no matter how difficult it was necessary to persist.”

Phileleftheros reports that while in the past responsibility for the failure of a peace initiative would be placed on one side or the other, responsibility for the negative outcome of the Geneva informal summit lies with the UNSG, but does not expand on why. In an overview of what went down at the summit, as relayed to the National Council by Anastasiades, Phileleftheros reports that Anastasiades told the political leadership after the talks of April 28 that the UNSG had told the plenary session held that day that talks must move within the UN framework and that he cannot discuss two states. The UNSG also said he will be appointing a special representative to prepare the groundwork for formal negotiations to begin within three to four months, where it would be more appropriate for the issue of a two-state solution to be raised. After the completion of the summit on April 29, Phileleftheros reports that Anastasiades told the National Council that “the UNSG was incredible” and told Tatar that he doesn’t have the authority to deviate from his mandate. Anastasiades had at that point also told party leaders that the UNSG had failed to find common ground and would be calling a new informal summit within two to three months, by which time he will continue seeking common ground.

In another article, Phileleftheros reports that the common ground that the UN will seek among the two sides will take the form of a compromise proposal drawn up by the British. The paper even reports that this was the aim behind the informal Geneva summit, but efforts failed. Citing information, the paper reports that the UN will be examining the possibility of presenting the British formula, that revolves around having two Community States establish a new federal state that will be more akin to a confederation, as a bridging proposal. The UN and Britain will push this proposal forward through pressure and with the threat of assigning responsibility for a potential impasse, the paper writes. At this point, the UN is assigning equal responsibility on both sides since both rejected the compromise proposal mainly due to governance issues, Phileleftheros reports.

KEY ACTORS
Anastasiades
>> EU partners firmly oppose two-state solution
>> In Geneva, GC side was determined to contribute to UNSG’s efforts to find common ground so negotiations can resume for solution in line with UN resolutions and past convergences
>> Efforts failed due to Turkey’s new claims that fell outside UN parameters – claim for two independent states & recognition of north as precondition for resumption of talks
>> June EUCO will be heavily affected if Turkey continues to insist on a completely unacceptable and illegal claim

Guterres (UN)
>> Cyprus problem a prime example his conflict prevention and mediation activities


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