Front Page Headlines
He was shopping with a credit card of the disappeared Russian woman
The 32-year-old claims he had paid €2,500 to the two women for “services”. Police have evidence reinforcing suspicions for the murder of the two women with a possible perpetrator the 32-year-old Syrian man who was arrested. The mobile phone, credit card and the ID of one of the two women were found in his possession. The suspect claims that a 23-year-old compatriot of his knows more about the women’s disappearance. A second arrest warrant was issued while investigations in Kato Amiandos and the cars of the suspect did not yield any results.
- 586 new cases: They are tightening measures in airports and ports
- To Greece by ship: New tender with more attractive terms
- Parents protests: Too much ado by the few
- Minors are torturing a 15-year-old: They took him for a ride locked up in the trunk
The Omicron brings new measures
Out only on Christmas and only with tests for everyone. Teleworking with percentages and checks at the entry gates. Hadjipantelas goes to the cabinet tomorrow with a list (of suggestions).
- Tatar: The Ottomans are the island’s owners
- It is too early to talk about the elections – A first statement by Christodoulides.
- Protests in many schools over masks and tests: A bomb outside the offices of the education ministry in Limassol.
Christmas at home with new restrictive measures
It is a matter of time for the Omicron mutation to arrive in Cyprus. Additional measures in ports and marinas but also crossing points without closing…
- Christodoulides was cornered by opposition parties
- They secretly gave TC prime property to a family of DISY top brass (in Larnaca)
- Turmoil at DISY: Christodoulides is getting ready for candidacy
- Specks of blood reinforce suspicions of a double murder – They are looking for a makeshift grave…
Christmas events to move outdoors
Stricter checks at airports and crossing points looking likely.
- Police investigating abduction as two women reported missing
Explosive situation
The unvaccinated continue their mobilisations against the measures in primary schools and threaten teachers. A high-power explosive mechanism was found outside the main entrance of the health ministry building in Limassol. “There could be deaths if there was an explosion,” police said.
- Nikos Christodoulides: I will speak in spring about the presidential elections
- The Turkish woman and the asylum (comment)
- Anastasiades-Stylianides are having a chat today at the Presidential Palace after a while
- Search with sniffer dogs and drones in Kato Amiandos to locate the two Russian women – Police are faced with the possibility of a double murder.
Main News
Neophytou: Turkey’s & TCs’ demand for separate state cannot be accepted
Phileleftheros
Negotiations Process, EU Matters
OVERVIEW
DISY leader Averof Neophytou, who was in Madrid for contacts, has sent out the message that the GC side will never accept Turkey’s and the TCs’ demand for a separate independent state, the daily reports.
While in Spain, Neophytou met with the leader of the country’s People’s Party, Pablo Casado with whom they discussed the relations between the two countries and informed him about developments in the Cyprus issue. He said after the meeting they had “an excellent and productive discussion with common interests, the challenges of tomorrow for Europe but also the relations between our two countries.”
He said Casado expressed full understanding and support for the GC side’s positions “that it is never possible for our side to accept the unacceptable demand of Turkey and the TCs for a separate independent state.”
“This is something that Mr Casado fully understands because themselves are facing the Catalans’ demand for an independent state in their own country. That is why there is no country in Europe that will support the irrational request of the TCs and Turkey,” he added.
He also said he invited Casado to visit Cyprus.
The daily also reports, in another article, that TC leader Ersin Tatar, has made more provocative statements, this time claiming that the island belongs to the Ottomans.
Speaking during an event in the north, Tatar said the Ottomans are the real owners of the island, claiming that the administration of EVKAF founded on August 1, 1571 is the oldest institution of the island. The real owners of this island are the Ottomans, the Turks, that is us, he said, according to the daily. Reiterating the position that the worst day for the TCs was when the Ottomans left the island in 1878, Tatar claimed that Britain had violated the Cyprus lease agreement which provided that when it withdrew from the island it would transfer it back to the Ottomans. Noting that at the initiative of Ismet Inonu and Kemal Ataturk, Article 16 of the Lausanne Treaty included the provision that Turkey would have a say if there was a change in the status of Cyprus, Tatar said that when Britain left the island there were two separate peoples and three guarantor powers. He claimed that the Greek-Turkish balance in the Eastern Mediterranean could not be ensured due to Greece’s actions in the Aegean and spoke of attacks against the Turks in the context of the goal of turning Cyprus into a 13th island of the Dodecanese.
He also said that Turkey never left the TCs alone and thanks to its interventions due to its guarantee rights, the TCs have established their own state.
KEY ACTORS
Neophytou (DISY)
>> Spain’s PP head but also EU understand that, just as there cannot be independence for Catalans, there cannot be a separate state in Cyprus.
Tatar
>> Turks, as the Ottomans’ descendants, are the true owners of the island, because Britain had violated the Cyprus lease agreement that it would transfer island back to Ottomans after its withdrawal.
>> When Britain left the island there were two separate peoples & three guarantor powers.
>> Greece has been trying to turn Cyprus into a 13th island of the Dodecanese.
>> The TCs have established their own state thanks to Turkey & its interventions thanks to its guarantee rights.
Christodoulides will lay his cards on his candidacy plans in spring
Alithia, Haravgi, Phileleftheros, Politis
Governance & Power Sharing
OVERVIEW
Foreign Minister Nikos Christodoulides said it is too early to discuss whether he would run in the 2023 presidential elections, which is something he expects to decide end of spring next year, the dailies report.
Alithia reports that Christodoulides told state broadcaster CyBC that there are still 15 months to the elections which is one quarter or the term of the present government that has huge challenges to face and it would be disrespectful to the president to start an election discussion from now.
On whether he decided to be a candidate and whether he will seek DISY’s approval to be its candidate, the minister pointed out that, “the procedures of the parties are absolutely respected and no one disputes them.” He added, however, that there is the issue of what people expect and many other facts that need to be taken into account such as collaborations, electability, etc. “All of this will be discussed at the appropriate time,” he added, the daily reports.
Asked to comment on statements by DISY vice president Harris Georgiades on their meeting they had a few months ago, (that the minister had given the “right answer” as regards not straying from party procedures if he was to run as a candidate) Christodoulides said that meeting was not about the elections. “We will discuss, when the time comes, also about the meeting in question and other issues with honesty,” he said.
He also said there has not been a rift between him and DISY head Averof Neophytou over this matter dismissing reports stating otherwise, and also that he is Russia’s man in Cyprus or that his political career had started from DIKO. On the latter, he said it does not apply, arguing that the first to know this is the DISY president himself. “Let me remind you that the president of the party comes from the same district that I come from. He was the president of the DISY youth branch in Paphos when I was also there,” he added.
DISY’s political office, the daily reports, will discuss the presidential elections on Wednesday. When asked, Christodoulides said if he is in Cyprus, he will attend the meeting.
Phileleftheros reports that Christodoulides is avoiding giving a definite answer about his intentions yet, at least not before DISY’s Supreme Council meeting on the matter, expected to take place in March. The minister, with his announcement he would discuss this at end of spring to early summer, is basically turning his back on DISY’s procedures, the daily reported.
Phileleftheros also cites sources that President Nicos Anastasiades might run for a third term, in a bid to prevent a rift within the party and since there is no opponent in opposition to beat him in the elections. The president’s circle, however, rejects this scenario referring to Anastasiades’ earlier statements that he will step down after his term is over, the paper reported.
Haravgi reports that Christodoulides is getting ready for a candidacy outside of DISY procedures. The ruling party is in turmoil after the minister did not rule out the possibility of claiming the state presidency regardless of what Neophytou will do.
Politis too reports that the minister is evading any discussions regarding the presidential elections.
Stricter measures for crossings but not their closure, minister says
Alithia, Haravgi, Phileleftheros, Politis
CBMs
OVERVIEW
Stricter measures are to be discussed between the two communities as regards the crossing points as part of the effort to prevent the further spread of coronavirus, but not their closure, the dailies report.
The dailies cite statements on Monday by Health Minister Michalis Hadjipantelas after a meeting with the advisory committee of experts on coronavirus on further measures especially after the emergence of the Omicron variant in South Africa.
The minister said they discussed the possibility of further measures ahead of Christmas events including teleworking which will be tabled to the cabinet for approval on Wednesday.
It was also decided to tighten controls at the airports, marinas, ports and crossing points, he added. The final decisions on the crossing points will be taken in consultation with the foreign ministry and the Technical Committee on Health, Hadjipantelas said, clarifying the crossings will not be closed. Phileleftheros reports that the minister said this concerns stricter checks for all Cypriot citizens using the crossings and obligatory presentation of a negative PCR test also for non-Cypriots which is the same measure to be taken in airports.
‘Favouritism on lease of prime TC property in Larnaca’
Haravgi
Property
OVERVIEW
According to the daily, the Larnaca TC properties service is sneakily trying to lease prime real estate, located across the street from the town’s medieval castle to the family of ruling DISY MP Nicos Georgiou, choosing them over eight other applicants.
The matter, the daily reports is not legal but ethical and political since the same family already holds another TC property in the same area, Phinikoudes, that operates as a restaurant, next to the shop they are now trying to get.
The property was sneakily given to a family member of Georgiou, who is the son of former MP and DISY’s vice president, Giorgos Georgiou, the daily reports, three months after it revealed this scandal. The Larnaca TC properties service has waited for the issue to be forgotten and reaffirmed its initial decision to lease it to Georgiou’s brother-in-law, his sister’s husband, who was among nine who had expressed interest in the property.
The Larnaca TC properties service has approved his application with the final approval to be made by the Guardian of TC properties, the interior minister.
This is the second time in the past three to four years that a family of an important DISY member benefits from decisions by the Larnaca TC properties service, the daily reported. In January 2018, a large part of TC prime real estate property on Phaneromenis Avenue was given with scandalous procedures to the son of Theologos Manoli, DISY’s Larnaca district secretary and member of the municipal council, to erect a gym, the daily reports.
Call on state to explain Turkish asylum seeker’s case
Alithia
Migration & Citizenship
OVERVIEW
Alithia, in its daily comment segment titled ‘Hints’, calls for explanations by the interior ministry on the case of a Turkish woman who has been living in the government-controlled areas as an asylum seeker claiming her life is in danger in her own country.
Citing an article in Sunday’s Simerini about the case, the daily reports that this woman, however, has been travelling back and forth to Turkey through the occupied areas. She is getting €843.38 per month through the Guaranteed Minimum Income (GMI) allowance, has two IDs and wants to bring her Turkish husband to the free areas and her request is under examination, the daily reports. If this is granted, her GMI allowance will increase. Shouldn’t the interior ministry provide some clarifications about this interesting issue? the daily asked.