Front Page Headlines
Everything went smoothly but… we got burned again
The competent services give reassurances that they dealt with the situation immediately and adequately. Forestry department, fire service, competent services, in a note to the Presidential Palace, refute any accusations over delays and lack of coordination. The damage recording starts with cabinet deciding tomorrow immediate monetary aid to those affected. What we did not learn from the Solea fires? Two of the four Egyptians who got burned while trying to ‘escape’ the fiery siege in Odou, leave behind six children. They came to Cyprus for a slice of bread. Three House committees investigate what went wrong. Questions over the inadequate number of flying firefighting vessels. Forest firemen were protesting two years ago over understaffing.
- (AKEL) They are changing faces on the leadership pyramid
- Eurobarometer: Cypriots want a ‘green’ recovery
Awe in the villages of the disaster
Day after – Damage to 80 houses amounting to many millions. The green turned black.
- Meeting for Famagusta today at the Presidential Palace
- The president recalled Spehar of his proposals
- Famagusta’s return is not on the agenda, Tatar says
- Four families with seven children lost their loved ones – The last communication with the four victims. “They were going to fill the spray pump and leave”.
A silent, black scenery. They are counting the damage while responsibilities are being sought!
3,134 hectares of burned land, 347 burned residential buildings and 2,366 hectares of forest.
- Cyprus problem: Backstage and frontstage fermentations over the UNSG’s reports
- PEO is calling for a probe into (the death of) the four charred workers
How prepared are we?
Cyprus’ worst fire – Full report.
- Jab incentives for all as cases surge to 787
ALL THE VILLAGES of the Larnaca mountainous area were threatened, as was the Machairas forest
They are counting wounds. The day after of the fiery nightmare. Tragic stories: They were running to escape the flames.
- Sorrow for the four Egyptians
- TC press: “Our homeland up in flames”
- “Down with Turkey’s fascist regime,” shouted protesters in Paris condemning the Turkish invasion in northern Iraq
Main News
Anastasiades discusses UN reports with Spehar
Alithia, Haravgi, Phileleftheros
Negotiations Process, External Security
OVERVIEW
President Nicos Anastasiades had a meeting with UN Secretary-General’s (UNSG) Special Representative in Cyprus Elizabeth Spehar ahead of her briefing of the Security Council on the UN reports on the Cyprus problem and UNFICYP, the dailies report.
Spehar said they had a good and useful meeting. She said this was the customary meeting she holds ahead of her trip to the US to brief the Security Council on July 21 on Cyprus.
Spehar also said she will also speak with some of the UN officials in Washington before going to New York. She added she will also brief the countries that provide the troops and police officers to UNFICYP. “I was also recently in Moscow to talk with Russian officials, so I have been in touch with the five Permanent Members of the Security Council and I look forward to some very important and good meetings in New York also with my senior colleagues in the UN Secretariat,” she said.
Asked if the Cyprus problem is not yet solved also due to the policy of equal distances between the occupation power and the Republic of Cyprus, Spehar said that “it is really up to the parties to solve the Cyprus problem and we are here to assist.”
Government spokesman Marios Pelekanos said that Anastasiades reiterated the positions of the GC side aimed at a viable, just and functional solution to the Cyprus problem, based on the UN Security Council resolutions and the mandate of the UNSG.
He also recalled his proposals for effective confidence-building measures which were communicated to the UNSG in a letter sent to him and which were also tabled at the informal five-party conference in Geneva last April.
Anastasiades also pointed out Turkey’s continuing provocative stance in the fenced area of Famagusta, noting the Turkish president’s illegal forthcoming visit to the occupied territories on July 20 and the need to avoid any new actions in violation of UN and UN resolutions.
Pelekanos said that Anastasiades also noted that the UNSG’s reports should clearly reflect the facts in their proper dimension and avoid any reference that could be interpreted as contradicting the resolutions and decisions of the international organisation, the UNSG’s mandate but also parameters of international law.
The president also expressed his readiness and determination to participate in talks on the negotiation of the substance of the Cyprus problem, always on the agreed solution basis, as defined in the relevant UN resolutions, if the other side is involved in good faith, away from provocations and threats.
Alithia reports that Tatar said that the Security Council resolutions were the biggest obstacle to the solution and that the TC side would not back down on its own proposal for the solution of the Cyprus problem. He said the March 4, 1974, Security Council resolution was unfair since it recognises the GCs as the only legal authority in the Republic of Cyprus which became a GC state. Tatar also said the resolution is the core of the UN parameters and is still the biggest obstacle to a solution. If this is not eliminated, the GCs will never agree to a just and permanent agreement, he said, according to the paper.
Haravgi reports that Nicosia is focused on the UNSG’s reports on the renewal of UNFICYP’s mandate and his Good Offices, to be submitted to the Security Council, since it does not wish problematic references and terms in them such as ‘self-governing regions’ or others that have nothing to do with the SC’s resolutions on Varosha.
KEY ACTORS
Spehar (UN)
>> Cyprob solution is up to the parties, UN only assists in the process.
Anastasiades
>> Ready to participate in substantive talks on the agreed solution basis provided that Turkish side comes forth in good faith & leaves provocations and treats aside.
>> GC side wants a viable, just & functional Cyprob solution based on UNSC resolutions and the UNSG’s mandate.
>> Warns against any new actions by Turkey in Varosha that violate UN resolutions & international law.
>> Calls on UN to reflect in its reports on Cyprus facts in their proper dimension & avoid any reference that could be interpreted as contradicting UN resolutions and decisions, the UNSG’s mandate and parameters of international law.
Tatar
>> The SC resolution recognising GCs as the sole legal authority in RoC is biggest obstacle to solution & for as long as it remains in place, GCs will never agree to a just & permanent agreement on Cyprob.
Famagusta municipality meets president over Varosha
Alithia, Haravgi, Phileleftheros
Negotiations Process, Territory, Property
OVERVIEW
The daily reports that a delegation from the Famagusta municipality will have today a meeting with President Nicos Anastasiades on the issue of Varosha among fears on what the Turkish president might announce on July 20.
Phileleftheros reports that time is running out on Varosha refugees who see their dream of returning to their town turning into a tragic nightmare. The Famagusta delegation will ask from the government convincing answers to all scenarios that may arise concerning the fenced town.
Citing information, the daily reports that the Famagusta municipality delegation will enquire about the government’s intentions in case Recep Tayyip Erdogan calls on all refugees to return under the occupation regime. They also plan on asking what the government will do in case there is an attempt for individual arrangements for the Famagusta properties and if EVKAF questions the ownership rights of refugees.
The delegation is expected to also grill the government over what actions it has done and plans on doing on the issue of Varosha and discuss whether a new appeal to the Security Council is necessary to ensure that the terms of resolutions 550 and 789 on Famagusta are ensured.
According to Phileleftheros Foreign Minister Nikos Christodoulides continues contacts on the matter with his EU counterparts and permanent members of the Security Council.
The daily, in another article, also reports that TC leader Ersin Tatar provocatively reiterated that there was no issue of returning Varosha, which, he claimed, belongs to EVKAF, and announced that important announcements would be made by Erdogan on July 20.
Alithia in a comment, also said that GCs now are protesting and mobilising about Famagusta but 17 years ago they rejected the Annan Plan according to which Famagustans would return to their town in September 2004.
“Now we are crying over the faits accomplis created by Ankara. And yet we do not find the courage to confess that we had said ‘No’ to its return because, among other things, with the Annan Plan we would become Turkey’s protectorate,” the comment said. And so, despite our nationally proud ‘No’ for which every year we make special tributes by equating Tassos Papadopoulos with (1821 Greek Revolution hero) Theodoros Kolokotronis, we see the occupied city with binoculars and talk to each other, since no one else listens to us anymore, on how to avert its settlement.
Anastasiades congratulates new AKEL leader
Cyprus Mail, Haravgi, Politis
Governance & Power Sharing
OVERVIEW
The dailies report that President Nicos Anastasiades on Monday congratulated the newly elected general secretary of AKEL, Stephanos Stephanou.
Stephanou was voted as AKEL’s new leader by the party’s Central Committee last Sunday, the last day of the party’s 23rd Congress. He was running against Giorgos Loukaides.
Anastasiades, during a telephone call with Stephanou, said he hoped they would meet soon.
According to government spokesman Marios Pelekanos, Anastasiades also expressed his desire for close cooperation in a climate of consensus and good political climate with absolute respect for existing disagreements, to promote decisions for the benefit of Cyprus and its people.
Head of Greek party SYRIZA Alexis Tsipras also congratulated Stephanou and said they were by his side for the strengthening of the Left in Cyprus. He said the two parties shared common struggles for social justice and a just and viable solution to the Cyprus problem based on UN decisions.
Politis reports that AKEL is to vote on Saturday its new Political Bureau and Secretariat.