Front Page Headlines
AG tells audit boss to butt out
Savvides says he is the guardian of the constitution after audit chief launches new attack over passports’ probe
- Protest against corruption
- Tatar win muddles the waters for Cyprus talks, veteran experts say
Resounding failure by the political system
Scandals, corruption, deadlocks, mismanagement and a general stench in the air. Failure: In the economy – In the political handling of public affairs – In the national issue – In cultivating a spirit of morality and lawfulness among the citizens – In saving the minimum needed for a political society to exist: the “faith” towards institutions and rule of law – To encourage and inspire a vision and hope for the future – To make the concept of the homeland as a priority as the highest public good.
- UNSG in tough spot after Erdogan trips him up
- Greece’s demand: Suspension of Turkey – EU customs union unrealistic
- Bulgarian proposal: “Three seas initiative” and the inclusion of Cyprus – Greece
- Stockholm Syndrome: The “good occupation leader” Akinci, the “bad” Tatar
- (Editorial) The Disaster Ethnarchs
- Dr. Avgoustinos Avgousti (opinion): The elections in the occupied areas of Cyprus
- Marinos Sizopoulos (opinion): The traps in the six points of the Guterres Framework and our options
- Andreas Angelides (opinion): State sovereignty, European Union and Turkish expansionism
- Andreas M. Vasileiou (opinion): The terminology about Famagusta
A corrupt state without serious institutions
Internet poll by RetailZoom for “Politis”. 70% agree with cancellation of KEP (Cyprus Investment Programme). 73% believe Syllouris is the main actor in the video. 60% believe we are a corrupt state. 92% of respondents felt shame and disgust after Al Jazeera video was broadcast. Syllouris and Giovanni were at fault but the entire political system is implicated, citizens say. When it comes to coronavirus pandemic, we are in worse state than we were last May. President goes for third term?
- Occupied areas: Analysing Tatar’s election – Political stability in occupied areas complicated and difficult. K. Themistocleous (interview): “Akinci’s candidacy was undermined by President Anastasiades”. The bad and the worse scenario given the paradigm shift. Ersin Tatar: Turkey’s “underling”
- Ukraine’s autocephaly: Archbishop with Fanari, Limassol-Kykkos (bishops) with Moscow
- Self-dissolution of parliament: Deadlocked policies and… deadlocked solutions
- Spherically (opinion): What kind of President is Nicos Anastasiades after all?
- Attorney – Auditor (General): Trench war over naturalisations
- Christos Teazis (interview): “Turkey is heading towards a two-party system”
Time also for checkmate
Strategic moves on diplomatic chessboard ahead of developments in Cyprus Problem and Greek-Turkish relations. “Everything on the table” and the NAVTEX game.
- Policy of obedience to Ankara: The path is being laid for bringing the Turkish state to Cyprus – What Ersin Tatar’s win means
- While waiting for the picture to clear: They (UN) shuffle the deck again
- Emily Yiolitis speaks to “Ph”: All who broke the law will be held accountable
- Ioannis Kasoulides (interview): With Ersin Tatar, annexation becomes easier
- Anna Marangou (interview): “We returned like beggars on the street”
- They count losses: Developers insist on new investment programme
- Sofronis Clerides (opinion): No new plan to sell passports
Negotiations under the threat of annexation
Ersin Tatar, the new T/C leader, brings back to the table solution models of the Taiwan and Kosovo type.
- Golden passports: Heavy winter a little before the elections
- Geopolitics: Secretariat of trilaterals becomes a reality
- Andros Kyprianou (interview): They turned the programme into a focal point of corruption
- Athens seeks an arms embargo: Which systems it blocks
Cover-up with intervention of Attorney General
- Tatar’s win serves Turkish and T/C nationalists – Tatar will serve Ankara’s claims without complaints – Ignorance by G/C community leads T/Cs to Turkey
- (Interview) Passage of time without solution allows consolidation of occupation
- (Interview) “Selling” citizenship brings about abuses and corruption
- Insistence on Christofias triptych cancelled plans for Famagusta
He turned on the red light to Odysseas!
Clash of institutions over naturalisations – Strict statement by Attorney General. In a strict statement, Attorney General called the Auditor General back to order. Audit Office responds that it is independent and under no one’s guardianship. “Auditor General is the protector of the Constitution and the legislation”.
- Coronavirus: From normality to restrictions: How did we become again viewers of the same film? – Petros Karagiannis, Maria Koliou, Zoe – Dorothea Pana respond to the question troubling everyone after resurgence of pandemic
- He provokes without being bothered: Erdogan out of bounds: Macron needs psychotherapy
- Analysis on occupied areas: There was no prospect of solution, they didn’t vote for Akinci
- Government accuses him: Oktay set up celebration in Varosha and announced the opening of the city
Main News
UN reconsiders Cyprus Problem strategy after Tatar’s election
Alithia, Haravgi, Kathimerini, Phileleftheros, Politis, Simerini, Sunday Mail
Negotiations Process, Territory, EU Matters, Regional/ International Relations, External Security, Energy
The Sunday newspapers cover the prospects of a new round of negotiations after the election of Ersin Tatar and analyse the strategies of all sides involved.
According to Phileleftheros, the UN did not expect Ersin Tatar to win the elections. The newspaper writes, citing credible sources, that the UN will attempt to ensure that all preconditions are met before calling an unofficial meeting between the two sides and the guarantor powers. For this reason the UN will wait for the first meeting between Anastasiades and Tatar and the upcoming visit by UNSG envoy Jane Holl Lute, before proceeding.
In an analysis, Phileleftheros points out that in recent public statements the UN appears uncertain of how to proceed on the Cyprus Problem. Meanwhile, G/C diplomatic sources told the newspaper that it is uncertain whether a final official conference on the Cyprus Problem can be organised given this situation.
Phileleftheros also reports that Turkey is promoting a confederal solution and that it is ready, if that is not possible, to push for the upgrading of the T/C administration. At the same time, the newspaper writes that Turkey is not expected to reject an initiative for negotiations by the UN.
The newspaper cites information that Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told his British counterpart, Dominic Raab, that Turkey will ask for all scenarios – including that of a federation – to be on the table. Cavusoglu also reportedly told Raab that Turkey does not reject a federal solution, but that after everything that has happened, other solutions need to be on the table.
Phileleftheros also predicts that Turkey will make a move after October 27th, when the NAVTEX for the Oruc Reis expires, in order to give the impression that it is ready for dialogue with Greece.
Kathimerini reports that T/C officials seem to be returning to scenarios resembling the status of Taiwan or Kosovo regarding the north, and that its next moves regarding Varosha could be the prelude for future plans that could lead to the annexation of the north by Turkey.
In an interview with Phileleftheros, expert on Turkish and T/C politics and University of Cyprus lecturer Nicos Moudouros points out that the dynamics that led to Tatar’s election should not be underestimated, but the fact that the forces supporting Akinci remain strong should not be discounted either.
Also in an interview, former foreign minister Ioannis Kasoulides said that the election of Tatar will make Turkey’s policies that lead to the annexation of the north even easier. Kasoulides said that the G/C side was sending the wrong messages to the other side after the failure of the Crans Montana conference in 2017, since it itself didn’t know what it wanted. He noted, however, that that failure in itself was not enough to cause Akinci’s loss, adding that Akinci bears a portion of the blame for the failure of the Crans Montana conference.
Meanwhile, Alithia reports that the government will be contacting the UN and the UNSG regarding a visit by Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay to Varosha on Saturday.
On Saturday, Oktay had breakfast with representatives of the Famagusta T/C municipality and visited the recently opened beachfront of Varosha. In a speech, Oktay said that the fact that Turkey has kept the ghost town closed for 46 years is a sign of good will. He added that the city was kept closed in the hope of achieving a solution, but that instead Varosha has become a nest of mice.
He added that now Varosha will become a place where people can work and find a job and where the children and the young of the “TRNC” can find a future.
Oktay also said that Turkey supports actions taken by T/Cs with respect to everyone’s rights and underlined that the “TRNC” sees Varosha as its own land.
In a written statement, government spokesperson Kyriakos Koushios said that the visit will be brought to the UN Security Council as it is a violation of UN resolutions. This move also goes against the UNSG’s calls for moves that will create the necessary climate for negotiations on the basis of the agreement reached between Antonio Guterres, President Anastasiades and Mustafa Akinci in Berlin, Koushios added.
The dailies report that the UN initiative for the resumption of talks for a solution of the Cyprus problem will be launched right after elections in the north.
Open-air cinema in Deryneia buffer zone to open in spring
Haravgi
CBMs
OVERVIEW
Haravgi reports on the progress of works currently under way for the creation of an open air cinema in Deryneia’s buffer zone.
Deryneia mayor Andros Karagiannis told Haravgi that the project will create new opportunities for bicommunal events and cultural programmes. The municipality intends to continue works to develop the areas of the buffer zone within its administrative borders, Haravgi reports.
The newspaper reports that plans for the creation of the open air cinema were announced last September and that the Deryneia Municipality is working on it in coordination with the Italian Embassy in Cyprus, the Point Centre for Contemporary Art, the UN and Italian artist Rosa Barba.
The project won first place in an international competition for funding by the Italian Ministry for Cultural Heritage and Tourism. The cinema will be created by building two facing amphitheatres in the ground, around a screen standing between them. After the theatre is completed, it will remain under the control of the Deryneia Municipality.
Barba is an internationally renowned artist with personal exhibits in many museums around the world, Haravgi reports. According to the newspaper, Barba has expressed a desire to further investigate the area of the buffer zone and other archaeological locations in Cyprus.
In a statement as part of a programme titled “Evoking an architecture of passage”, Barba points out that the project has two parts: the first is the creation of the open-air cinema and the second is the creation of a documentary. The documentary was shot at a shipwreck in Mazotos from the Hellenistic era as well as other archaeological sites in Cyprus. The documentary is going to be shown at the theatre in spring 2021.
The documentary will focus on the entire length of the buffer zone and has been under development for seven years.