Front Page Headlines
Danger at Ercan’s (Tymbou) runway
A 300m section of Ercan (Tymbou) airport’s runway has collapsed and the general condition of the runway has deteriorated. It has been learned that Turkish Airlines has warned its planes will not be approaching the runway from the west because of the absence of approaching lights. T&T services which operates the airport said that the planes did not touch down at the 300m section which has collapsed but much further away towards the middle of the runway. T&T manager Serhat Özçelik said that carrying out repairs at the runway was not easy while the runway continued to be used.
- Fikri Ataoğlu sued by Greek Cypriot for his property – The Greek Cypriot family which is suing the leader of the Democratic Party Fikri Ataoğlu is demanding €1m in compensation for damages concerning their property in Tuzla (Engomi).
The court rejected NEU’s application
The Nicosia District Court rejected the Near East University’s (NEU) application for an injunction against an earlier court order for the confiscation of property in exchange for the ₺5 million it owes to the Nicosia Turkish Municipality (LTB) in unpaid fees. It also emerged that the NEU withheld information from the court. The university administration is now preparing to take the matter to the Appeal’s Court. Mayor Mehmet Harmancı refused to comment on the ongoing court case.
- YDP to nominate Arıklı – The Rebirth Party (YDP) decides to nominate Erhan Arıklı as its presidential candidate
- Tatar: “I would like to run as a candidate for my party”
We are also in this game
While the seven countries including the Greek Cypriot side form an alliance for natural gas resources in the Eastern Mediterranean, Turkey announced its determination to protect its rights in the Eastern Mediterranean together with the TRNC. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said new areas within its exclusive economic zone (EEZ) will be granted licenses in 2020 as a result of the agreement signed with Libya. “The agreements signed with the TRNC and Libya foiled the games being played against Turkey,” Erdoğan added.
These crossings must be opened
The number of people using the crossings has increased by 2,7m in one year. The increased traffic at the crossing points has made the opening of the Famagusta and Paphos gates obligatory. According to statistics obtained from the Tourism Planning Department, 12,206,563 crossings had been recorded from January 2019 to November 2019.
Now that was wrong
It emerged that the three Turkish Cypriots who fled to the north after assaulting a young Greek Cypriot and his stealing his car worth €30,000 had used pepper spray and a knife to subdue him. The car was found and the three were arrested. The car has been taken in by police as evidence.
- Family disappointed – The bones of Martyr Commander Ecvet Yusuf was found not in the grave visited by his family for the past 45 years but buried in another mass grave along with the bones of three other martyrs.
- Palestine is among them – The ministers of seven countries who have developed the EastMed project against Turkey have signed an agreement in Cairo.
Wrong grave for the past 45 years
Another unforgivable scandal concerning burials at the Tekke Bahçesi (Garden) cemetery has emerged following the one involving Martyr Hüseyin Ruso. It emerged that the first martyr of 1974 Ecvet Yusuf was not lying in the grave he had been buried in all this time but with five others in a mass grave located within the cemetery. The family which has been visiting the wrong grave for the past 45 years is in shock. Ecvet Yusuf’s daughter Nilgün Ecvet Orhun said, “I am outraged with the Evkaf Administration which kept this from us and we demand an immediate apology.”
Main News
Ankara resumes rethoric on East Med
Yenidüzen, Kıbrıs Postası, Kıbrıs, Havadis, Diyalog, Afrika
Energy, Regional/International Relations
OVERVIEW
“We are determined to protect the rights of our Turkish Cypriot brothers,” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Thursday, as Ankara resumed its harsh rhetoric concerning its activities in the Eastern Mediterranean.
Speaking at the Annual Evaluation Meeting for 2019 at Beştepe National Congress and Culture Center in Ankara, Erdoğan stressed: “Turkey is all set to reach new heights in 2020 by protecting its rights, especially in the Eastern Mediterranean.”
The president touched upon the developments in the Eastern Mediterranean and said the aims of restricting Turkey to its coast were interrupted by the signing of a maritime deal with Libya.
“It is no longer legally possible for other countries to conduct seismic survey and drilling activities without Turkey and Libya’s approval in the areas specified in the maritime deal,” he said.
Erdoğan added that these areas will be registered and the research activities will begin in 2020.
“We will start search and drilling activities as soon as possible in 2020 after issuing licenses for the areas,” he stated.
Erdoğan also announced that Turkey’s seismic exploration vessel Oruç Reis will soon be deployed to the region.
“In the areas that remain between Turkey and Libya, it is now legally impossible for there to be exploration and drilling activities or a pipeline without the approval of both sides,” he said.
“The Greek Cypriot administration’s interlocutor was the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus,” Turkish Energy and Natural Resources Minister Fatih Dönmez said on Thursday.
Speaking on Anadolu Agency’s Editors’ Desk, Dönmez said that Ankara was ready to establish a dialogue with all neighbouring countries in the Eastern Mediterranean for the exception of the Greek Cypriot side.
He also noted that it was possible to meet and sign maritime boundary agreements with countries that had a coast to the Eastern Mediterranean and that countries could declare their continental shelves in cases where such agreements did not exist.
“In both cases, the process will go to the UN where the country will have to apply and register its claims,” Dönmez said.
He noted there are areas which Turkey had declared as part of its continental shelf in the Eastern Mediterranean and registered with the United Nations (UN).
Dönmez also pointed out that Turkey and the TRNC have signed a continental delineation agreement in 2011.
Touching on the recent agreement signed with Libya, Dönmez said: “We have foiled plans on the distribution of natural resources in the Eastern Mediterranean with the latest agreement.”
He argued there had been efforts to keep both Turkey and Libya out of the hydrocarbons equation in the region.
Responding to a question on Turkey’s operations, Dönmez said: “Even though some of the licensed blocks overlapped with those of the Greek Cypriot administration, Turkey has continued with exploration and drilling activities in these disputed areas without interruption.”
He added that areas licensed by the Greek Cypriot side following agreements signed with Egypt in 2003 and 2005 were located south of Turkey’s blocks.
“They are not conducting any exploration or drilling in our blocks but they are claiming to have jurisdiction in those areas. Let it not be forgotten, the TRNC is one of the two sides on the island. The Greek Cypriot administration should share the island’s natural resources fairly with our brethren in the TRNC,” he added.
Dönmez said blocks located between Turkey and Libya will be licensed as soon as the process to register the agreement signed between the two countries is completed.
KEY ACTORS
Erdoğan (Turkey)
>> Turkey is determined to protect the rights of the TCs.
>> Turkey is all set to reach new heights in 2020 by protecting its rights, especially in the East Med.
>> The aims of restricting Turkey to its coast were interrupted by the signing of a maritime deal with Libya.
>> Not legally possible for other countries to conduct seismic survey & drilling activities without Turkey & Libya’s approval in the areas specified in the maritime deal.
>> These areas will be registered & research activities will begin in 2020 after issuing licenses for the areas.
>> Turkey’s seismic exploration vessel Oruç Reis will soon be deployed in the field.
Dönmez (Turkey)
>> The GC side’s interlocutor is the TC side.
>> Ankara ready to establish a dialogue with all neighbouring countries in the East Med. for the exception of the GCs.
>> It is possible to sign maritime boundary agreements with countries that have a coastline on the Med.
>> Countries can declare their continental shelves in cases where such agreements do not exist.
>> Turkey has declared areas within its continental shelf & registered it with the UN.
>> Turkey has foiled plans on the distribution of natural resources in the East Med with the latest agreement signed with Libya.
>> There have been efforts to keep both Turkey & Libya out of the hydrocarbons equation in the region.
>> The GC side should share the island’s natural resources fairly with the TC side.
>> Blocks located between Turkey & Libya will be licensed as soon as the process to register the agreement signed between the two countries is completed.
President of EU Commission sends letter to Akıncı
Yenidüzen, Kıbrıs Postası
EU Matters, Negotiations Process
OVERVIEW
The President of the European Commission (EC) Ursula von der Leyen has said the EU fully supports a comprehensive solution in Cyprus, all six dailies reported on Friday.
Leyen responded to a letter sent earlier by President Mustafa Akıncı congratulating her on her election to the post.
Akıncı had reiterated the Turkish Cypriot side’s commitment and determination for a solution in Cyprus and also asked to meet with her to discuss issues concerning the Turkish Cypriot community.
The EC President said that the EU was ready to contribute in any way possible in a capacity acceptable to both sides.
She also said that she wanted to be in dialogue with Akıncı on issues concerning the Turkish Cypriot community.
Arıklı to run as YDP’s presidential candidate
Kıbrıs Postası, Kıbrıs, Havadis, Diyalog
Governance & Power Sharing
OVERVIEW
The Rebirth Party (YDP) has decided to nominate Erhan Arıklı as the party candidate for the upcoming presidential elections in April following a decision taken by the party’s central executive committee.
The decision was announced by the YDP General Secretary Turan Büyükyılmaz with a written statement.
The statement said that the April election will be different from previous ones as the race will be between candidates who support a two-state solution and those who advocate a federal settlement as the only way forward.
“The YDP has decided to proceed with the nomination of its own candidate in line with a decision taken earlier by the party assembly with the strong likelihood that a joint candidate will be supported if the elections go to the second round,” the statement read, noting that the YDP had initially worked for a consensus on a joint candidate, a move which the other parties had not supported.
According to the statement, the YDP will be officially announcing its candidate on Tuesday, January 21 at a party assembly meeting to be held at the conference hall of the Turkish Cypriot Chamber of Industry.
Meanwhile, the People’s Party (HP) announced on Thursday that it will be supporting the party’s former leader and independent candidate Kudret Özersay.
The HP’s new leader Yenal Senin said the party assembly had decided unanimously to support Kudret Özersay in the upcoming presidential elections.
“We believe we share the same vision with Özersay both on the Cyprus issue and on relations with Turkey,” Senin noted and said the HP will actively support Özersay during his election campaigning.
In another development, the National Unity Party’s (UBP) leader, Turkish Cypriot Prime Minister Ersin Tatar publicly stated his intention to run in the elections.
“I am the UBP’s candidate for the presidential elections and I am honoured to be one,” said Tatar during a meeting with party supporters in Beyarmudu (Pergamos) on Thursday night.
He also said the elections will be important in terms of national interests; relations with Turkey and regarding the Turkish and Turkish Cypriots’ rights in the Eastern Mediterranean.
Process of identifying missing persons buried in Nicosia completed
Yenidüzen, Kıbrıs Postası, Kıbrıs, Havadis, Diyalog, Afrika
Human Rights
OVERVIEW
The process of exhuming and identifying missing persons buried at the Tekke Bahçesi (Garden) cemetery in Nicosia have been completed, President Mustafa Akıncı’s office announced on Thursday.
A number of Turkish Cypriots killed in intercommunal fighting been 1964-1974 had been either buried in mass graves or unmarked graves at the cemetery.
The work was carried out in coordination with the Turkish Cypriot office of the Committee of Missing Persons.
The identities of six Turkish Cypriots who were buried at the cemetery during the intercommunal clashes were determined through DNA testing, the statement from Akıncı’s office said.
The families of the identified families were then invited to Akıncı’s office and briefed on the process, the statement added.
Another Turkish Cypriot, Hüseyin Ruso, who had been buried in an unknown grave at the ceremony had also been identified in 2017 and reburied in a marked grave.
Meanwhile, it emerged that one of the Turkish Cypriots, Ecvet Yusuf, had been buried in the wrong grave for the past 45 years.
It turned out that Yusuf was not buried in the grave his family has been visiting all this time but in a mass grave with four others.
The family shocked by the development has demanded an official apology from the authorities.
New crossings in Nicosia have become a necessity
Havadis
Economy
OVERVIEW
The number of people crossing across the divide increased by 2,7m in one year, making it almost mandatory for the opening of the Famagusta and Paphos gates, Havadis reported on Friday.
According to statistics obtained from the Tourism Planning Department, 12,206.563 mutual crossings had been recorded from January 2019 to November 2019.
In the same period the previous year, 9,438,099 crossings of persons were recorded.
As a result of the devaluation in the Turkish Lira, long queues have been forming at the Metehan (Agios Dometios) crossing point, which is the only crossing point in Nicosia where vehicles are permitted to cross.
Mehmet Harmancı, Mayor of Nicosia Turkish Municipality (LTB) and Mayor of south Nicosia, Constantinos Yiorkadjis have both expressed a desire for the opening of two new crossing points in Nicosia. Since then, there has been no movement on the issue.
Speaking to Havadis on the issue, Mayor Harmancı said: “The Greek Cypriot side, in response to our demand for new crossing points, asked for two other crossing points – one is in Athineou (Kiracıköy) and the other one in the Erenköy (Kokkina) pocket.”
He added a high-level meeting was held in the north to discuss the opening of new crossing points including the Greek Cypriot side’s counter-proposal.
“The Turkish Cypriot authorities were not willing to discuss the Greek Cypriot side’s proposals either therefore the issue entered a deadlock,” Harmancı said.
He added that despite an agreement with his counterpart in the south regarding the opening of the crossing points in Nicosia, he felt disappointed in Yiorkadjis’ lack of desire to put pressure on the Greek Cypriot authorities on the issue.
“If Yiorkadjis had been a bit more insistent, we could have reached a different result because I know he has not changed his opinion,” Harmancı said.
He added that he will meet with Yiorkadjis in 2020 to discuss the issue.
Harmancı also recalled that Yiorkadjis had proposed to establish a free-zone in a demilitarized area in Nicosia. “We do not reject the idea but it seems to be a far-fetched now since we have not had any progress on the opening of new crossing points,” Harmancı concluded.
“I’m not a refugee, I bought the property after 74”, says Ataoğlu
Yenidüzen
Property, Human Rights
OVERVIEW
The leader of the Democratic Party Fikri Ataoğlu has denied any wrongdoing after a Greek Cypriot family of refugees from Famagusta filed a lawsuit against him in a court in South Cyprus for illegal use of their property in the north.
He said that he was not a refugee but had purchased the property lawfully with his own money after 1974.
The Thomaides family from Famagusta is suing Ataoğlu, his wife, and daughter, for illegal use of their property in Famagusta for €1m.
The hearing at the Famagusta district court in the south was set for Wednesday but was postponed for next month on the request of the applicants.
It emerged that the lawsuit had been filed against Ataoğlu a year ago but that his wife and daughter were being sued after he transferred the deeds of the property in question to their names.
The property was originally registered under the Greek Cypriot family’s company, Thomaides Group (Holdings) LTD.
Speaking to Yenidüzen, Ataoğlu said that he was not a refugee and had purchased the property in question with his own money after 1974.
Ataoğlu said that he had informed the President’s office, the Prime Minister and the leaders of all the other political parties on the matter.
He confirmed that he had received the court summons by email and warned that his case could set a precedent for other similar cases.
Details of Pile (Pyla) car theft emerges
Diyalog
Internal Security
OVERVIEW
Details of the car theft incident involving three Turkish Cypriots and a Greek Cypriot at a location within the British Bases Area between Pile (Pyla) and Beyarmudu (Pergamos) emerged on Thursday, Diyalog reported.
The three Turkish Cypriots accused of attacking the 24-year old Greek Cypriot man before stealing his car and driving it to the north had been arrested on Wednesday.
The car was found parked in a housing estate near Kurudere (Mousoulita) village in Famagusta district.
The three appeared before a court on Thursday.
According to the testimony of the police officer in charge of the investigation, one of the Turkish Cypriots had arranged to meet with the Greek Cypriot in Pile (Pyla) to purchase the car.
The police still trying to determine the exact motive of the three suspects.
The Turkish Cypriot, along with two others had assaulted the 24-year-old Greek Cypriot man before stealing his car and driving it to the north.
It emerged that the three men sprayed the Greek Cypriot man with pepper spray and pulled a knife on him before making way with his Mitsubishi car worth €30,000.
Police had taken the car as evidence until the investigation is concluded, Diyalog reported.