Front Page Headlines
Great tragedy
An 8-year-old boy in Lapta (Lapithos) dies in a gun accident after shooting himself with his father’s pistol. His father was a retired police officer. Yahya Ergör who was seriously injured lost his life while being rushed to the hospital. It’s not known how the boy accessed the gun. Police are continuing their investigation.
- Traffic report in the south: 60 per cent of those killed were not wearing seat belts.
- Demonstration against racism in the south – Police in the south is searching for those who cut the barbwire fence to prevent migrants from crossing over.
Heart-wrenching incident
Eight-year-old Yahya Ergör was shot by his father’s gun in Lapta (Lapithos). He passed away on the way to the hospital. Police continue with their investigation into the incident.
- 33 locally transmitted, 41 positive coronavirus cases identified – 7884 tests were carried out in the last 24 hours. 28 people discharged.
N/A due to lockdown
N/A due to lockdown
Main News
Priority must be given to reunification efforts
Yenidüzen, Kıbrıs
Negotiations Process
OVERVIEW
AKEL in the south and the Republican Turkish Party (CTP) in the north on Saturday said that priority should be given to efforts to reunify the island. The two parties urged the sides to engage in a sincere dialogue to resume talks on the agreed basis to reach a comprehensive settlement in Cyprus.
Both parties, in a joint statement, said the goal of a comprehensive settlement can only be reached through a meaningful negotiations process that is results-oriented with a sense of urgency as stated by the UN Secretary-General (UNSG) following the Berlin trilateral on November 25, 2019.
AKEL and CTP also said that the talks must be based on the February 11 February 2014 Joint Declaration, the prior convergences, and the Guterres framework. The final goal should be to achieve a strategic and political agreement paving the way forward for a bizonal, bicommunal federal (BBF) solution based on political equality, the parties added.
“Any failure in reaching the final goal would strengthen the status quo on the island,” the joint statement warned, adding that the division on the island will also become deeper and the two communities will become more alienated from each other.
The two political parties also urged the community leaders to reopen the crossing points with the necessary health measures in place with the goal of normalization crossings. “Our political parties are determined to support every effort to prepare the two communities for a federal solution,” the joint statement read, noting that the efforts to mobilize the civil society organisations must be made ahead of the five-plus-one Cyprus conference.
Both parties conclude they will make every effort to develop mutual understanding and rapprochement between the two communities. AKEL and the CTP had met on March 16 also reaffirming their commitment to a BBF solution.
KEY ACTORS
AKEL & CTP
>> Two sides should focus efforts for reunifying Cyprus under a BBF settlement based on UN parameters & past convergences.
>> Any failure to solving the Cyprob will strengthen the status quo.
>> Crossing points must be reopened with necessary health measures.
>> Our parties are determined to support every effort for a federal solution.
“We are not afraid. We will not be silenced”
Yenidüzen, Kıbrıs
Human Rights
OVERVIEW
A group of small political parties, trade unions and civil society organisations led by the Left Movement staged a protest on Saturday. Around a hundred protesters gathered at Kuğulu Park in north Nicosia before marching towards the Turkish Embassy chanting the slogan “We are not afraid. We will not be silenced.”
In a joint statement issued by the participants, the protestors said they will not recognize “the unlawful regime that is established by seizing the Turkish Cypriots’ political will and this regime’s appointees.”
“We are neither afraid nor are we going to keep quiet against fascist attempts and arrests against our freedom of expression and freedom of thought,” the statement said, adding that they also reject efforts to make the workers and the public pay the price of the economic crisis caused by the pandemic, poverty, cultural assimilation.
Determined to intensify their struggle for an independent country that is more modern, democratic, and fair that respects equality and freedoms, the joint statement also said they will work towards reaching a swift solution to the Cyprus problem. New Cyprus Party (YKP), Road to Independence, United Cyprus Party (BKP), Cyprus Socialist Party (KSP), Communal Liberation Party (TKP), Revolutionary Communist Union (DKB), Baraka cultural centre, KTÖS (Turkish Cypriot Teachers’ Union), KTOEÖS (Turkish Cypriot Secondary School Teachers’ Union), Turkish Cypriot Public Sector Workers’ Union (ÇAĞ-SEN), Turkish Cypriot Air traffic Controllers’ Union (KTKS), Turkish Cypriot Association for Artists and Writers, Turkish Cypriot Production Centre, UK Turkish Cypriot Democracy Association (KTDD), Freedom not submission group, Societal movement platform, East-Southeast Cultural Association, Peace and Democracy Initiative, This Country is Ours Initiative supported the protest organised by the Left Movement.