Front Page Headlines
Prodromos messed up over Kemal
The president left the education minister exposed on the way he handled the matter and will ask explanations today. N. Anastasiades chastised Prodromou yesterday for the way he handled the case of the English textbook of the B’ grade of lyceum, for which was initially decided to tear up a page and was later withdrawn. The education ministry tries to justify its actions, but to no avail. Questions about the reasons why the baseless, according to the ministry, reference to Ataturk was identified after the lessons began. Strong reactions from Turkey and the occupied areas while the attitude of OELMEK (secondary education teachers union) and Greek Cypriot parties is also lambasting. Issues are raised on hindering pupils’ critical thinking, say teachers and academics.
- August Eurobarometer: Things are not going well… says the 50%
- Cheesemakers: Appeal to the EU court (on the halloumi PDO)
- October 25: They are ‘starting’ the speed cameras on a pilot basis
Ataturk goes to the cabinet
Probe for responsibilities at the education ministry, the president requests explanations. They bought books referring to northern Cyprus as if it was a second Cypriot state.
- Blurry scene in New York despite both their readiness
- Parliament under pressure for the municipalities reform
- The Morphou Bishop suggested home remedies to the president yesterday at the Holy Synod – Anastasiades: Whatever scientists suggest to us.
- They rejected 6,800 asylum applications, another 5,500 arrived
They either do not understand what they are reading or they chose to lie
The president’s contradictory and unstable policy that helps Turkey.
- Education ministry: They are trying to blame someone on the book with Ataturk, they are throwing the ball to the stands
- EU-Turkey: €14.2 bn for Turkey & another seven candidate for admission countries
Synod strikes middle ground
Morphou bishop to stay silent on vaccine views ‘unless provoked’.
- Aradippou launching museum of Christian art
The Morphou saint promised to be silent but could not
The pandemic was discussed yesterday at the Holy Synod. Right after the meeting of the Holy Synod where the Bishop of Morphou pledged not to take a position publicly on vaccinations issued a statement reiterating his positions against vaccinations… Ephrem: I almost died. Platanistasa: Complaints for priest quackery.
- Government spokesman: It is regrettable that (AKEL leader) Stephanou accuses the president to the foreign powers and not Turkey!
- Only AKEL and the Greens disagreed with the withdrawal of the book on Ataturk
- Interior minister: We shut three of the four routes used by the irregular migrants
Main News
Both leaders state readiness for joint meeting with Guterres
Alithia, Haravgi, Phileleftheros, Politis
Negotiations Process
OVERVIEW
President Nicos Anastasiades said he was ready for a trilateral meeting in New York with the UN Secretary-General (UNSG) and the TC leader but the TC side is not, the dailies report.
Responding to statements by TC leader Ersin Tatar that the reason UN special envoy Jane Holl Lute did not visit Cyprus was not due to the TCs’ refusal, Anastasiades said Lute calls and conveys her positions to the negotiator, and never such an issue was raised. He added that what was originally planned was that Lute might visit Cyprus with her husband for a vacation but also to take advantage of her presence here, but then said that a similar trip would not be combined but with her presence here she would prepare the meeting to be held in New York. “And the response from the Turkish side was that they are not ready for such a dialogue, for such a consultation,” Anastasiades said.
Alithia reports Anastasiades said he was ready for such a meeting, adding that it seems, judging by Tatar’s hints, there is a shift in the Turkish position out of concern that they might be held responsible for meeting not taking place.
Phileleftheros also reports that Tatar’s office said in a statement that the TC leader has on several occasions stated he was ready for a meeting with Anastasiades. It added that the UNSG told the two leaders when he met them in Brussels last June that he could meet them, unofficially, for dinner, when in New York.
The daily also reports that the two leaders now compete over who is ore ready for a joint meeting with the UNSG. But despite their declarations for readiness, the picture remains unclear not only due to the two sides’ positions but also the situation in New York due to the pandemic. As a result, no one knows what the situation will be and the arrangements as regards contacts at the UN headquarters in New York.
It is obvious though that the Turkish side, obviously realising that Ergun Olgun’s negative stance to Lute a trilateral with Andreas Mavroyiannis would make the GC side look good, has changed its approach, the daily reported. It adds that it is obvious that the statement by Tatar’s office attempts to pass the position that the Turkish side’s response was never negative.
KEY ACTORS
Anastasiades
>> Proposal on return to 1960 Constitution, which is in response to call by UNSG for new ideas overcome impasse created by Turkish side’s refusal resume dialogue unless TCs’ sovereign equality is recognised, aims at helping start a dialogue on the evolution of the RoC & not return to unitary state.
Tatar
>> States readiness to meet with Anastasiades.
Government accuses AKEL of encouraging Turkey on Cyprob
Alithia, Haravgi, Phileleftheros
Negotiations Process, Regional/International Relations
OVERVIEW
The dailies report on the latest disagreement between the government and main opposition AKEL on the Cyprus problem with the spokesman, Marios Pelekanos, accusing the party of reinforcing Turkey’s positions by blaming the president and not Ankara of the stalemate on the Cyprus problem.
AKEL leader Stephanos Stephanou, according to Alithia, during a briefing of ambassadors and other diplomats in a hotel in Nicosia claimed that for the last four years there has not been a consistent policy on the part of the president to seize every opportunity to resume negotiations. He added that though the solution of the Cyprus problem seems perhaps more distant than ever, if talks continue from where they left off in Crans Montana a quick solution to the Cyprus problem is realistic.
He spoke of Ankara’s provocations and illegal actions in the Cypriot EEZ and Famagusta, as well as the Turkish side’s official return to the two-state solution, while referring to President Anastasiades’ back-and-forths, his proposal of ‘new ideas’ that annul main convergences and led to a pointless search of terms of reference for the restart of the negotiation process. As a result, the UN Secretary-General is not convinced of the prospect of reopening meaningful negotiations, he said, according to Alithia. The AKEL leader also said that Anastasiades’ position for the continuation of the negotiations from where they left off, the Joint Declaration of 2014 the convergences that had been reached up to Crans Montana and the Guterres Framework of June 30, which was expressed at the last informal conference in Geneva is not convincing because of all the new ideas he continues to support, that, essentially question key aspects of what had been agreed, he said. He noted that all these setbacks and dangerous experiments give the opportunity to Turkey and TC leader Ersin Tatar to take advantage of the negotiation void to continue their methods in the EEZ and Famagusta almost undisturbed and to insist on a two-state solution.
Pelekanos said in a written statement that it was sad and unacceptable that a leader of a political party briefing ambassadors of foreign countries instead of pointing out and denouncing the unacceptable Turkish positions that deviate from the UN resolutions and the terms of the Secretary General’s mandate, to justify them by holding the president and the GC side accountable.
“Mr. Stephanou should finally understand that such actions not only do not help the effort to resolve the Cyprus problem but reinforce and justify Turkey’s positions and of its representatives in the occupied areas,” he added. He also asked the AKEL leader what he was trying to achieve by blaming the Cypriot government. “Does he realise that he justifies the Turkish demands before foreign diplomats, who will of course inform their governments accordingly, about all the baseless allegations he is making?,” Pelekanos asked.
He added that the president, for the umpteenth time, wants to make it clear to Stephanou and those who adopt similar perceptions that he is not going to adopt positions that serve Turkish plans to the detriment of Cypriot Hellenism.
AKEL said in response that Pelekanos either did not read the statements, or he does not understand what he is reading, or he is lying. The only certainty is that the president’s contradictory and unstable policy allows Turkey to proceed with its partitionist policy, it added.
Haravgi reports that around 35 diplomats responded to AKEL’s invitation for a briefing on the latest developments on the Cyprus problem and the party’s proposal to break the stalemate for the talks to resume, which can motivate the TC side and Turkey without violating the red lines of the GC side for the resumption of talks from there they left off in Crans Montana. The only thing this proposal does is to concretize the persistent suggestions of the UNSG, Stephanou said, noting that “if we all give the necessary weight to this proposal we can hope that there will be a prospect of breaking the current impasse.” He said this was the safest and most effective way to deal with Turkey’s delirium of intransigence and not ideas that will drag us into ineffective discussions of the distant past, he stressed. He also conveyed AKEL’s readiness to submit at the appropriate time bridging proposals not for already agreed convergences but only for the pending issues of the six-point Framework with the aim of a quick conclusion to a strategic understanding.
He also posed the question of whether, in the name of finding common ground, “we should destroy the negotiating acquis that we came to through decades of discussions,” and rejected the so-called new ideas submitted by third parties while at the same time emphasised the absolutely correct position of the UNSG for the resumption of negotiations on the agreed basis for a bi-communal bi-zonal federation with political equality as defined in the relevant Security Council resolutions, and from the point they left off at the end of the conference in Crans Montana.
Alithia reports that AKEL, with its well-known nihilist approach, used the Cyprus problem once again for party politics.
KEY ACTORS
Pelekanos (RoC)
>> Sad & unacceptable that AKEL leader instead of pointing out to ambassadors of foreign countries the unacceptable Turkish positions on Cyprob and denouncing them, is justifying them by blaming president & GC side.
>> AKEL’s stand not only does not help effort to solve Cyprob but reinforces & justifies Turkey’s and TCs’ positions.
>> Asks Stephanou realise he justifies the Turkish demands before foreign diplomats, who will inform their governments accordingly, about all the baseless allegations he is making
>> Anastasiades will adopt positions that serve Turkish plans to the detriment of Cypriot Hellenism.
Stephanou (AKEL)
>> Government has not had a consistent policy in last four years to seize every opportunity to resume negotiations while its ‘new ideas’ that annul main convergences, lead to a pointless search of terms of reference for the restart of the talks.
>> Anastasiades’ dangerous experiments allow Turkey & TC leader take advantage of the negotiation void to continue their plans on the EEZ and Famagusta & insist on a two-state solution.
>> Either gov. spokesman did not read AKEL statements, or does not understand what he is reading, or he is lying but the only certainty is that the president’s contradictory & unstable policy allows Turkey to proceed with its own, partitionist policy.
>> AKEL’s proposal to break talks stalemate can motivate the TC side and Turkey without violating the GCs’ red lines for resumption of talks from where they left off in Crans Montana.
>> AKEL ready to submit bridging proposals only for the pending issues of the six-point Framework for a quick conclusion to a strategic understanding.
>> Rejects ‘new ideas’ by third parties.
>> Is it worth destroying what has been achieved after all these decades in the name of finding common ground, or keep to absolutely correct position of UNSG for the resumption of negotiations on the agreed BBF basis with political equality?
Cabinet to seek explanations about Ataturk reference saga
Alithia, Phileleftheros, Politis
Human Rights
OVERVIEW
President Nicos Anastasiades said the issue of the withdrawal of the English textbook that includes a reference on Kemal Ataturk should have been handled differently by the education ministry, the dailies report.
The matter is to be discussed at cabinet on Friday, Anastasiades said.
Asked about the matter, the president said that the education ministry ought to have handled it better. He said he did not care about the reaction by the Turkish foreign ministry on the matter but that he was mainly interested in how such a problem ought to be handled in the 21st century, and that, perhaps, a different approach was needed.
He said Education Minister Prodromos Prodromou was to be asked by cabinet to provide explanations about the incident, what instructions were given to the coordinators of the English language teaching and why the book had not been checked sooner.
Politis, Philenews and Cyprus Mail news portals on Friday morning however, reported that, Prodromou would not attend the cabinet meeting or meet Anastasiades within the day because he was still in Greece, where he went to represent the government at the funeral of Mikis Theodorakis. Sources within the education ministry told the Cyprus News Agency Prodromou was scheduled to return to Cyprus in the evening and it was known he would not be attending the cabinet meeting.
The dailies reported that the education ministry, in another statement on Thursday said an “unacceptable and inappropriate” reference was spotted two days ago in the book that was recently received and was to be used for the first time this year.
It added that it was not possible in the books used for education “in our schools” to portray Kemal Ataturk as a model of moral leader who “stood up for the people,” because, as it is well known, Ataturk and the Young Turks are responsible for crimes against the peoples, such as the Genocide of the Armenians, the Pontus Greeks and the Assyrians. “In fact, it is completely inappropriate for such a reference to be made in an English textbook,” the ministry said.
The Republic of Cyprus, it said, as well as several other democratic countries such as the USA, France, etc, condemn the Armenian Genocide, which is considered a mass crime. It added that it therefore goes without saying that there can be no such reference in a textbook.
The ministry also said that having identified the problem, it decided to withdraw the book but that it also launched a probe into possible negligence within the ministry as regards the incident.
It also said that, recently, some other English textbooks were replaced after references were found in them to ‘northern Cyprus’, as if it were a second Cypriot state.
Politis reports that Anastasiades hung Prodromou out to dry while the ministry that continues to try justify its instructions to teachers to tear the page, and the decision to withdraw the book altogether, does not convince anyone.
The daily also reports that secondary education teachers union OELMEK, called for a probe into the incident and called on the ministry to explain why the book’s content was not checked before purchasing it. The union also said the instructions given to teachers were condemnable and have no place in a modern, European state.
Alithia reports that only AKEL and the Greens disagreed with the ministry’s decision to withdraw the book, while ELAM and DIPA backed this decision. The rest of the parliamentary parties, DISY, DIKO and EDEK remained silent, the paper reported, adding that by not taking a stand, it can be presumed they agree with the ministry’s decision.
Phileleftheros also reports that teachers’ movement Allagi (Change), said they agree with the decision to withdraw the book that praises Kemal Ataturk as a personality of moral standing.
The daily also reports that the University of Cyprus’ Department of English Studies said it found as unacceptable the ministry’s argument that the English language course is not offered nor is it expected to handle such topics or to have room for critical analysis. “Any reference, positive or negative, to any historical figure and any historical event can be used constructively in a classroom to conduct dialogue and to develop students’ critical thinking,” the department said. It also noted “the historically proven link between the destruction of books and practices of obscurantism and totalitarianism.”
KEY ACTORS
Anastasiades
>> Not interested what Turkey has to say about the ‘Ataturk reference’ issue but rather how such issues ought to be handled in the 21st century.
>> Education ministry ought to have handled the issue differently.