Front Page Headlines
State with baton and helmet standing opposite citizens
Members of police pointing to operation coordinator regarding orders for violent repression. Opposition parties calling for resignation or termination of the Justice minister, with Andros Kyprianou ascending the Presidential Palace hill tomorrow morning. Police are refusing to take part in policing operation for the new demonstration this Saturday, claiming they are being victimised by the minister and the police leadership. Four lawyers are assuming duties as criminal investigators probing criminal or disciplinary responsibilities among members of the Police for exercising raw violence against demonstrators.
- Economy: The pandemic left a 5.1% recession
- New package of relaxations on March 1 if…: SMS to be used in March too
A ‘black box’ says it all
The Police Crisis Centre has all the details of the clashes on Saturday. New demonstrations are being organised in Nicosia and Limassol.
- The five-party (meeting) heading toward first ten days of April: ‘Oruc Reis’ also returning
- Erhurman against Tatar over two-state solution position
- War in Europe over vaccination passport: Commission against such policies
- Politician to be called in for questioning soon
- Law against Phedonas on T/C properties
- 37 different mutations were detected in Cyprus: Coronavirus invaded the island from many entry points – results of research announced.
- Only 1,628 foreigners recognised as refugees: 19,000 migrants applied for protection
Catering and food & drink venues on their knees
30% of food and drink venues will not resume operation. Things are harder due to the non-suspension of instalments. Measures from PASIKA. All Paphos hotels closed.
- Erhurman: BBF the only realistic solution
- Speedy and determined investigation of sexual harassment reports
- Police attacked on orders
- Covid-19: 3 dead and 81 new cases. Vaccinations for people over 74
- Elderly refugees in permanent state of quarantine
Police behaviour panel appointed
Call for Yiolitis to be sacked. New demo to be held on Saturday. Rank and file officers say scapegoats.
- 86% say women most often target of discrimination
Economy on strong legs! Coronavirus did not bring us to our knees
We survived the wounds of the pandemic too. The Cypriot economy shrunk by 5.1% according to Eurostat and by 5.0% according to Cyprus Statistical Service, a percentage much lower than initial estimations. We have the third best growth rate in the Eurozone.
- Police on the counterattack: They return fire and issue warning – New demonstration this Saturday – We will not allow our members to become victimised.
- Universal request: The sexual harassment by a politician must be investigated
- Nouris gives data in parliament: Thousands applied for international protection
Main News
US, French Ambassadors to Cyprus express support for BBF
Haravgi, Phileleftheros
Negotiations Process
OVERVIEW
Phileleftheros reports that the US and French Ambassadors to Cyprus on Tuesday stood firmly in support of a bizonal, bicommunal federation (BBF).
Phileleftheros reports that Foreign Minister Nicos Christodoulides met with the US Ambassador to Cyprus Judith Garber on Tuesday, with the Cyprus Problem among the points of discussion. The paper reports that Christodoulides relayed the positions of the GC side while Garber expressed her support for the new efforts to resolve the Cyprus Problem and stood firmly behind the position that there can be no other solution apart from a BBF. The two also touched on matters relating to bilateral relations and cooperation.
The paper also reports that the French Ambassador to Cyprus Salina Grenet Catalano on Tuesday expressed France’s support for a speedy resumption of peace efforts on the basis of UN parameters and a BBF solution with political equality. President Anastasiades, who was presented with Catalano’s credentials, reaffirmed the Republic’s “clear position: the form of solution that we are envisioning is none other than the establishment of a bizonal, bicommunal federation, in line with the relevant UN resolutions and the values and principles on which the EU is based.”
Anastasiades stressed the importance of a constructive approach from all parties involved so that substantive negotiations and a positive result can be achieved. He also said it is impossible for anyone to believe that these conditions are being met if any one of the parties is supporting solution frameworks that lie outside of established UN parameters. These conditions are also not being met if Turkey or the TC side move forward with plans to fully reopen Varosha or continue their activities within the Cyprus EEZ, Anastasiades said according to Phileleftheros.
Anastasiades also highlighted the importance of EU involvement in negotiations due to the need to ensure that the solution will guarantee a functional state within the EU. Phileleftheros reports that the informal five-party will likely be held in early to mid-April.
Meanwhile, Phileleftheros and Haravgi also report on a letter revealed by the UK’s Daily Telegraph in which Fabian Hamilton, Shadow Minister for Peace and Disarmament, and Catherine West, Shadow Minister for Europe and the Americas, called on the UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab to publicly express his commitment toward a BBF solution. The letter came in response to Raab’s recent visit to the island, where he refrained from specifically referring to a BBF and instead called on all sides to show flexibility. The two Shadow Ministers also called on Raab to “uphold [the UK’s] non-recognition of the occupied north of Cyprus in order to avoid bending our historic red lines,” the papers report.
KEY ACTORS
Garber (US)
>> Support for new Cyprob peace talks on the basis of BBF solution.
Catalano (France)
>> Support for speedy resumption of peace efforts on the basis of BBF solution with political equality.
Anastasiades
>> Seeking a BBF solution in line with UN resolutions and EU principles.
>> Constructive approach from all involved parties necessary. Moves such as supporting solution framework outside UN parameters, reopening Varosha, or provoking in Cyprus EEZ, do not contribute to constructive climate.
>> EU involvement in peace talks important in view of need to ensure that solution will give rise to functional state within EU.
Erhurman says BBF ‘the only realistic solution’
Alithia, Haravgi, Phileleftheros
Negotiations Process
OVERVIEW
The dailies report on critical statements issued by the leader of the Republican Turkish Party (CTP) Tufan Erhurman against statements issued by Turkish officials and the TC leader Ersin Tatar regarding a two-state solution.
The dailies report that Erhurman said that if these statements are closely examined then it becomes clear that they do not abandon a federal solution, but rather a comprehensive solution.
Erhurman referred to the language being used by Tatar and other Turkish officials as straight out of the stone age, and called them too comical to even stand against, while calling for their resignation, Haravgi reports.
“The federation does not die because they say it does,” Erhurman said according to the dailies. Erhurman also refuted Tatar’s claim regarding the shift towards his positions from the EU, President Anastasiades and the UK, claiming that recent statements do not support such a claim.
Erhurman stressed that the only realistic solution is a bizonal, bicommunal federation with political equality, the dailies report, and warned that if the TC side sticks to its current rhetoric, then at the informal summit the TC side will appear as the party not wanting a solution, something that the TC people do not deserve.
Erhurman said that the 52% that Tatar secured in the recent ‘elections’ cannot be interpreted as the will of the TC people, as Turkey’s tampering is well known and the ‘election’ cannot be construed as a referendum on the model of the Cyprus Problem solution, the dailies report.
Erhurman said that his party has always said that the island is too small to be partitioned and that the pandemic has made this blatantly clear on the level of the economy, health, and relations with the EU.
On the matter of natural resources, Erhurman said that the island’s natural wealth, from wherever it may be drilled, is also accessible to the TC community as one of the two founding partners and in the framework of political equality. It is for this reason that a comprehensive solution is necessary as soon as possible, he said.
KEY ACTORS
Erhurman (north)
>> BBF the only realistic solution.
>> Tatar, Turkish officials are abandoning the pursuit for a comprehensive solution.
>> Tatar’s claim that the EU, the UK and Anastasiades are assuming positions that approach his own is unfounded.
>> If Tatar sticks to current rhetoric at the informal summit, then the TC side will emerge as the party not wanting a solution.
>> ‘Elections’ were not a referendum for the solution model the TC side should be pursuing, especially in light of Turkish tampering.
>> TCs are entitled to hydrocarbons under political equality, and therefore a comprehensive solution is needed as soon as possible.
37 different Covid mutations detected in Cyprus
Phileleftheros
Internal Security
OVERVIEW
Phileleftheros reports that a study of 768 samples taken from people who tested positive for coronavirus in Cyprus found 37 different strains of the virus, including the UK strain.
The samples involved people who had tested positive between April 2020 and January 2021.
The study involved the participation of the University of Cyprus’ Laboratory of Biotechnology and Molecular Virology, NIPD Genetics, the Famagusta General Hospital, and the catholic University of Louvain in Belgium.
The findings of the study were compared with data collected in other parts of the world that have been submitted to international data banks, so that the findings of the Cypriot researchers can be confirmed.
Further details on the findings of the study are expected during a press conference on Friday.