GCC Press Review 28 Oct 2019

Front Page Headlines

Politis

We also laundered $5.5bn from Ukraine

An investigation by OCCRP (Organised crime and corruption reporting project) placed Cyprus again on the spot. The former president of Ukraine’s Central Bank called the case one of the largest financial scandals of the 21st century. The money, after passing through Cyprus ‘disappeared’ in company accounts in different countries.

  • ECHR: Support a la carte?
  • Cyprus: With one foot in the past (Interview with Kizilyurek on his latest book)

Phileleftheros

Two crucial dates

The meetings of November 25 and December 20 will define the fate of the Cyprus problem. The GC side is trying to put pressure on Akinci.

Haravgi

The Terms of Reference will be sealed at the trilateral

UN Secretary-General during the informal tripartite meeting with two leaders on November 25 in Berlin will attempt to ‘seal’ the Terms of Reference but will announce them at the informal five-party meeting that will follow. The big question is whether Turkey’s stance will be a positive one in this endeavour or will it risk blowing things up in the air to make things difficult for Mr Akinci.

  • EVKAF’s argument is weakened
  • Turkey continues her own tune in provocations within the Cypriot EE
  • ‘From Paphos to Karpasi. Beloved Cyprus’, a joint play a common liturgy

Alithia

Unfortified cities, indifferent officials

After Limassol, it was Nicosia’s turn to ‘drown’ in a ‘glass of water’. With the first severe rainfall, the capital’s streets are turned into rivers, houses and buildings flood, properties are ruined and no one cares.

  • Cyprob: Trilateral and then what?

Main News

Nicosia willing to help achieve progress on Cyprob but Turkey needs to do the same

Haravgi, Phileleftheros, Politis
Negotiations Process, Regional/International Relations

OVERVIEW

Nicosia reiterated her political will for progress on the Cyprus problem during the forthcoming meeting of November 25 as well as in the five-party meeting possibly on December 20, the dailies report.

Phileleftheros, citing sources, reported that the five-party meeting with the participation of the two leaders, the three guarantors and Guterres, will most probably take place on December 20, possibly in Switzerland.

The same sources assess that Guterres will seek an agreement during the trilateral on the issues under discussion which he will present to the guarantors at the ensuing five-party meeting, the daily reported.

For Nicosia the key to success remains the stance of the Turkish side, the daily reported. Citing statements by government spokesman Prodromou who said “it remains to be seen if the TC side will truly have the ability to negotiate based on Cypriot interests,” Phileleftheros reports that the GC side is trying to exert pressure on Mustafa Akinci to keep distance from Ankara and come to the negotiations table without having at the back of his mind how to serve Ankara’s goals.

All dailies also report that Prodromou also said that Anastasiades would proceed with a clear political will and willingness to create the conditions for the resumption of the talks.

He said the GC side hopes that in the meantime Turkey will abandon her intransigent stance, the logic of provocations and gunboat policies and that she would allow the restart of substantive talks.

KEY ACTORS
Prodromou
>>
GCs wait to see if TCs will be able to negotiate based on Cypriot interests.


Demetriades: ‘Government discriminates between refugees’

Politis
Property, Human Rights

OVERVIEW

The daily reports that lawyer Achilleas Demetriades criticised the government of discriminating between refugees from Varosha and Nicosia following its decision to only take part in a case before the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) concerning property in the closed-off town.

Demetriades told Politis in the past the government had refused to take part in trials, referring to a trial concerning two sisters who had filed an application to the Immovable Properties Commission (IPC) in 2012 seeking restitution of property they inherited from their mother and compensation for loss of use, and that this was discrimination.

He said, the other case in which the government informed the ECHR that they would be taking part as a third party concerns a lawsuit filed by KV Mediterranean Tours that had also filed to the IPC for restitution of its property in Varosha and compensation for loss of its use.

Both cases concern the protracted length and ineffectiveness of the proceedings before the IPC.

Demetriades said he could not understand why since the two cases concern the violation of human rights of GCs the government has decided to take a different approach.

Government sources told Politis that a political decision was taken following the advice of the Attorney-general and international law firms to avoid a repeat of the ‘Demopoulos’ case, which was detrimental both to the state and to refugee property owners. The same sources told the daily that since the government appealed to the UN Security Council for the Turkish side’s approach on Varosha it could not abstain from this case before the ECHR.

The daily also cites Attorney-general Costas Clerides who refuted last week discrimination-related claims. He had said that each case is examined and assessed separately according to its own facts and legal circumstances, the daily reports.


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