Front Page Headlines
‘Let the crossings open…allow us to unite with our families’
Far away from their families, they yearn for the day when they will be able to embrace them again…the yearning cries of the Maronites. While the economic impact of the closure of the crossing points is what is being mainly discussed the humanitarian, aspect is far more painful for many. The Maronites living in Kormacit (Kormakitis) and who haven’t been able to see their families for over a year complain that the authorities have forgotten them completely. 86-year-old Annetta Aravuzzu has been unable to see her five children and 11 grandchildren for almost a year. Her eyes fill with tears as she explains how much she has missed them. Time for 100-year-old Cristina Foradari who tries to make do with family photographs is all the most precious. She wants to be reunited with them.
- Proposals on the table, evaluations are being made –The bicommunal Technical Committee for Health met to discuss the reopening of the crossings.
- Shopkeepers prepare to stage protest: The crossings will open –The Turkish Cypriot Chamber of Shopkeepers and Artisans will be staging a protest in front of the Great Inn in Nicosia at 1 pm on Monday and the Buğday Mosque in Famagusta at 4:30 pm on Wednesday.
More relaxations, curfew on Sundays lifted
Under the scope of normalization, new relaxations have been announced. In this regard, the expected decisions for the tourism sector were adopted; new dates and conditions for reopening were announced for the closed sectors.
- The inauguration for the water supply tunnel to be held today – Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay together with an accompanying delegation came to the TRNC. The ceremony will be held in Güzelyurt (Morphou).
- There are proposals on crossings but no opening – Bicommunal technical committee on heath held a videoconference meeting yesterday to discuss the reopening of the crossings.
- The shopkeepers will be on the streets demanding the reopening of crossings – the Turkish Cypriot Chamber of Shopkeepers and Artisans will stage protests on Monday in Nicosia and on Wednesday in Famagusta.
‘Vaccinated’ citizens of only seven countries allowed entry
The night-time curfew as of Monday will begin at 11 pm, supermarkets will remain open until 10 am restaurants 10:30 pm. Entry into the country has been divided into four categories. Fully vaccinated citizens of only seven countries in the green category will be allowed to enter the country without quarantine. Arriving passengers from countries such as Turkey which are in the red category are still required to present valid PCR tests and enter quarantine for ten days.
Two-month prison sentence for four loaves of bread and a bottle of soft drink
A verdict that hurts the community’s conscience. A Ghanaian national, who was arrested for stealing four loaves of bread and a bottle of soft drink, was sent to jail for two months by the court.
- Turkish (Cypriot) side is not ready – The Bicommunal Technical Committee on Health announced the reopening of the crossings will depend on the Turkish (Cypriot) side after a videoconference for an hour-and-a-half.
- The night-time curfew will be from 11 pm to 5 am – Decisions by the Higher Committee for Infectious Diseases announced.
Main News
Proposals tabled for reopening of crossings
Yenidüzen, Kıbrıs, Diyalog, Avrupa
CBMs
OVERVIEW
The bicommunal technical committee on health, which held a video conference on Friday, failed to agree on a mechanism to reopen the crossings, prompting a reaction within the Turkish Cypriot community against the stance being taken by the authorities in the north which tried to justify their position, claiming that the cases in the South were still too high.
The committee is to hold another meeting after the Turkish Cypriot side clarifies a set of questions posed by their Greek Cypriot counterparts on the proposal the north submitted for re-opening.
Speaking to Yenidüzen, Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar’s special representative Ergün Olgun said the members of the health committee will continue with their efforts to “harmonize” the proposals.
“The authority in the reopening of the crossing points lies with the government,” Olgun said, adding that the outcome of the next week’s health committee meeting will be shared with the government. He added that the current status in the north was ‘yellow’ while the south was still ‘amber’. “Once both sides have a similar number of daily cases, the crossings will reopen,” Olgun concluded.
As the bicommunal committee’s meeting was underway, the Turkish Cypriot Health Ministry published its criteria for the reopening of the checkpoints based on the recommendations of the Higher Committee for Infectious Diseases.
Health authorities said that the crossings will remain shut as long as there are over 175 positive cases in every 100,000 tests. It said that the current rule whereby people who cross for work, health and education purposes with a valid PCR test carried out in the last 72 hours will continue.
It said once the south’s status is downgraded to yellow then individuals will be allowed to cross with PCR tests repeated every seven days. If less than seven cases are detected per day, then individuals will be allowed to cross without any PCR requirement.
Meanwhile, the Turkish Cypriot Chamber of Shopkeepers and Artisans (KTEZO) announced on Friday, it will stage protests on Monday, May 24 in north Nicosia and on Wednesday on May 26 in Famagusta to put pressure on the authorities to reopen the crossing points.
“The necessary conditions are there for the reopening of the crossings,” the KTEZO statement read, noting that it will not reignite a debate whether or not the crossings could have been opened in a controlled manner in the past 15 months it remained shut.
The KTEZO also criticized the Turkish Cypriot authorities’ earlier decisions on relaxations of measures whilst adopting an intransigent stance on the crossings.
“Everyone knows that the crossings could be reopened immediately with necessary measures in place. No one should dare to politicize the issue nor should they try to throw their weight around when it is about the crossings,” the KTEZO stressed, adding that the KTEZO will not allow anyone to politicize the issue of crossings.
“The issue of crossings is about our future,” the KTEZO concluded.
Yenidüzen on Saturday also shed light on the humanitarian aspect of the closure of the crossing points. Interviewing residents of the Maronite village of Kormacit (Kormakitis) who have been cut off from their relatives in the south for almost a year due to the restrictions at the crossing points, the daily revealed the plight of the village’s mainly elderly population.
86-year-old Annetta Aravuzzu has been unable to see her five children and 11 grandchildren for almost a year. Her eyes fill with tears as she explains how much she has missed them. Time for 100-year-old Cristina Foradari who tries to make do with family photographs is all the most precious. She wants to be reunited with them.
Maria Skoulou who runs the village’s popular Yorgo’s Restaurant said she hasn’t seen her brothers and sisters who live in the south for over seven months.
She says her 70-year-old mother who lives with her in the village is depressed and unhappy for not being able to see her children and grandchildren. Skoulou says her mother suffers from health problems also caused by her sadness.
UN parameters constitute the basis for a comprehensive settlement
Yenidüzen, Kıbrıs, Diyalog, Avrupa
Negotiations Process
OVERVIEW
The leader of the main opposition Republican Turkish Party (CTP) Tufan Erhürman on Friday reiterated his view that the UN parameters constitute the basis for a comprehensive settlement in Cyprus, noting that the Turkish Cypriot side’s two-state solution will not be accepted in any way.
The CTP leader who speaking during a meeting with representatives of the Union of the Chambers of Cyprus Turkish Engineers and Architects (KTMMOB).
Evaluating the developments during the five-plus-one Cyprus conference in Geneva, Erhürman reiterated that the Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar first refuted the claims of a Turkish Cypriot proposal and then went ahead to propose a six-point proposal which received no support from any of the attending parties except for Turkey.
“The Turkish Cypriot community will face serious consequences if the Turkish Cypriot leadership does not abandon its current position in favour of a two-state solution which is against UN parameters,” Erhürman said, adding that the Turkish Cypriot leadership’s position will only serve the continuation of the non-solution on the island.
He also noted that the Turkish Cypriot community’s hard-gained wins such as limited international representation under the title of the ‘Turkish Cypriot state’ by remaining committed to a solution based on UN parameters were in danger.
“Now as a result of Tatar’s policy, the UN Security Council (UNSC) will say the Turkish Cypriot community has given up on its will for a solution,” Erhürman stressed.
He warned that the Turkish Cypriot community will be at a great loss if Tatar continues to adopt the same attitude at a second five-plus-one meeting. Erhürman also touched on the need for implementing long-term development plans in the north for better management of the economy.
Meanwhile, Erhürman on Friday received the British High Commissioner Stephen Lillie. In a statement issued from the CTP, Erhürman, who was accompanied by the party’s foreign affairs secretary Fikri Toros, and Lillie discussed the situation following the Cyprus conference in Geneva as well as Erhürman relaying the party’s position on the Cyprus problem.
Lillie also reaffirmed the UK is in favour of finding a bizonal, bicommunal federal solution in line with UN parameters and based on the political equality of the two communities.
KEY ACTORS
Erhürman (CTP)
>> UN parameters constitute the basis of a comprehensive solution of Cyprob.
>> TC side will face serious consequences if it insists on a solution model outside UN parameters.
>> Hard gained wins for TC community in danger as a result of Tatar’s policies.
More relaxations on Covid-19 restrictions announced
Yenidüzen, Kıbrıs, Diyalog, Avrupa
Internal Security
OVERVIEW
The latest decisions and more relaxations on Covid-19 measures, which have been approved by the Council of Ministers, were announced by the Turkish Cypriot Higher Committee for Infectious Diseases on Friday.
The latest relaxations include the lifting to the day-long curfew on Sundays which has been in force for severe months and shortening the night-time curfew by an hour starting at 11 pm until 5 am the next morning.
The Committee also increased the number of nights tourists can spend in the north under the ‘closed-circuit tourism model’ from three to five nights. The number of charter flights has also been raised from four per day to ten.
It also allowed the opening of cinemas, in-door children playgrounds, bars and clubs from June 3 onwards, and casinos from June 10 onwards depending on the number of positive cases.
The Committee also allowed the reopening of the schools, however, referred to the Education Ministry on when or how to allow in-class education to resume. The Committee asked for school teachers as well as other staff to be subjected to rapid antigen tests every seven days.