Front Page Headlines
“Those hands will be broken”
This is the message given by a minister to the Higher Council for Antiquities. The leader of the Rebirth Party (YDP) and minister of economy in the National Unity Party (UBP)-Democratic Party (DP)-Rebirth Party-YDP minority government Erhan Arıklı said he will not recognize the decision adopted by the Higher Council for Antiquities and Monuments which was published in the official gazette. He threatened those who would dare bring down the flag poles erected on top of Famagusta’s historic wall.
Concerns over e-commerce
The increasing volume of e-commerce due to the pandemic has caused concerns about unemployment. Experts speaking to Kıbrıs noted that even though e-commerce might cause unemployment in some areas, it could lead to development in other areas as well. Hürrem Tulga, General Coordinator of the Turkish Cypriot Chamber of Shopkeepers and Artisans (KTEZO) said developing technologies create new employment opportunities while leading to unemployment in other areas. Tulga said training programmes must be organized and funds must be created to prevent unemployment. Turgay Deniz, head of the Turkish Cypriot Chamber of Commerce (KTTO) said it is vital to catch up with advancements in technology. Assoc Prof Dr Gürkan Ateş said e-commerce might cause unemployment among blue-collar workers in the short-term period.
Flags on the old walls latest agenda of the TRNC
Erhan Arıklı said the hands of those who touched the flags could be broken, all hell broke loose. A debate on social media rages on after two flag poles were cemented on top of the entrance of Gazimağusa’s old town which is crumbling due to neglect. Economy Minister Erhan Arıklı yesterday threatened that any hands laid on the poles would be broken. Republican Turkish Party (CTP) leader Tufan Erhürman reacted to Arıklı’s words, expressing his anger with a post on social media which read, “This mentality…this language…Is a minister of the state threatening to break the hands of members of a state institution.
Will break the hands of those who dare to touch (the flags)
Deputy Prime Minister, Economy and Energy Minister Erhan Arıklı said he will break the hands of those who dare to remove the flags erected on top of the historical Venetian walls (on Akkule (Ravelin gate)) in Famagusta. He said he does not recognize the decision to remove the flags adopted by the Higher Council of Antiquities and Monuments, claiming that the Council of Ministers is the only authority that can decide on the matter.
Main News
Ertuğruloğlu: UNFICYP helps maintain the status quo
Yenidüzen, Kıbrıs, Diyalog, Avrupa
Negotiations Process
OVERVIEW
Turkish Cypriot Foreign Minister Tahsin Ertuğruloğlu on Saturday repeated his known view that talks on the Cyprus Issue could only yield a positive outcome if carried out between equals. Speaking during an online conference organised by the Girne American University (GAĞ), he claimed that the previous federal model of settlement which had been imposed on Turkish Cypriots for 53 years had no chance of success.
Ertuğruloğlu added that the Turkish Cypriots had come out disappointed at the end of each process that was unequal and unhealthy in structure. He also argued that while the Greek Cypriot side pretended to be wanting to form a partnership on the island, using long and endless talks to extend its policy of suffocation of Turkish Cypriots through embargoes to win concessions.
Touching on the UN peacekeeping force on the island (UNFICYP), Ertuğruloğlu argued that the UN helps to maintain the status quo on the island.
He argued that Greece and the Greek Cypriot desire the extension of UNFICYP’s mandate every six months as it contributes to their policies regarding the Cyprus Issue. The Turkish Cypriot foreign minister said the UN’s military presence on the island needed to end to adopt a fairer stance regarding the two sides.
“The international community will either continue with what’s wrong and perpetuate the non-solution on the island or will decide to put an end to the ongoing unfair treatment of the Turkish Cypriots,” Ertuğruloğlu said.
He also touched on the role of the UK as a guarantor power, dismissing the possibility of London taking any new initiatives on the Cyprus Issue. “The UK is only concerned with its military bases on the island,” Ertuğruloğlu said, adding that it would not make any unexpected moves that would upset the Greek Cypriots so as not to face any retaliatory action against those bases.
Meanwhile, echoing similar messages on Saturday, Prime Minister Ersan Saner said the government in the north will in no way agree to negotiate a federal settlement.
Saner, addressing a group of National Unity Party (UBP) supporters in Kyrenia, added that the Turkish Cypriot side has declared to the international community that the talks will only be held between the two states with equal status. He noted that Ankara fully backs the Turkish Cypriot side’s position.
Also speaking during the same meeting, UBP General Secretary Oğuzhan Hasipoğlu said the Turkish Cypriot side will not accept any solution model that will rely on the mercy of the Greek Cypriot side. He added the Turkish Cypriot side will continue to stand straight against the Greek Cypriot side, will continue to reopen the fenced-off town of Maraş (Varosha) and will continue with the hydrocarbon activities in the Eastern Mediterranean region.
“It is because we as the Turkish Cypriots are as sovereign as the Greek Cypriots are on the island,” Hasipoğlu said.
Tuncay warns TC authorities on dangers posed to Nicosia’s historic walls
Yenidüzen, Kıbrıs, Diyalog, Avrupa
Human Rights
OVERVIEW
Ali Tuncay, the Turkish Cypriot co-chair of the bicommunal technical committee on Cultural Heritage, was outraged over the organisation of a car rally at Zahra street on Friday located on Nicosia’s old walls facing the Ledra Palace hotel.
The street connects Zahra bastion with Roccas Bastion. A section of the wall had collapsed in two places just a year ago and had undergone emergency repairs.
In a social media post on Saturday, Tuncay recalled that the technical committee was tasked with the repairs and restoration of the collapsed section of the Zahra bastion, completing the works in 2020 under the pandemic conditions.
He also recalled that Zahra street was closed to traffic for months during the repairs “Then one morning you wake up only to see that the section that was repaired is being used as the starting point for a car-rally, with dozens of cars and hundreds of people present,” Tuncay wrote, adding that he was overcome with the feeling that the committee’s good work is not respected at all.
Tuncay stressed that the structural problems at the old Venetian walls of Nicosia have not yet been solved. “It will not be a surprise to see more sections of the walls collapse, if there is not going to be any immediate intervention,” Tuncay said, in irony, expressing his congratulatory remarks for the winner of the car rally.