Front Page Headlines
“Infections within families high”
Head of the pulmonology clinic, member of the Higher Committee for Infectious Diseases Dr Mustafa Akansoy spoke to Yenidüzen. “The aim is to ensure that the economy runs while maintaining the public’s health. We don’t find joy in shutting down everything. But we resort to a lockdown when we are left with no other choice, taking stricter measures,” he said. Akansoy also said that family social events were among the main source of Covid-19 infections.
- Geneva summit begins – Today: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will meet with Ersin Tatar at 4 pm and Anastasiades at 6 pm. A reception will be held at 8:45 pm. Tomorrow a joint meeting will be held between 10 am – 1 pm with all the attending parties. There will be bilateral meetings from 2 pm – 6:50 pm followed by another joint meeting from 7 pm to 8:30 pm.
5+UN marathon starts today
The five-plus-one Cyprus conference with the participation of the guarantor nations, to explore whether or not there is common ground between the sides, will be held from April 27-29 in the Swiss city of Geneva. President Ersin Tatar, who left the island yesterday morning to attend the Geneva talks and stopped over in Ankara to hold a meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his team, said his goal as an elected president of the TRNC is to table a new road map. Stating a federal settlement was not possible in Cyprus, Tatar said a lasting, fair and sustainable solution on the island will be based on two separate states with sovereign equality co-existing side-by-side and collaborating with each other. “There is no meaning in losing another 50 years at the negotiating table,” Tatar said.
Value of foreign currencies against TL on the rise, making life more difficult
The fluctuating value of the foreign currencies against the Turkish lira started the week with a sharp increase. The devaluation of the Turkish lira resulted in an increase in the retail prices in the marketplace.
- The (presidential) team searching for the map – President Ersin Tatar, before leaving for Geneva via Ankara, continued with the polemics on the map during his press conference at Ercan (Tymbou) airport. Tatar said his Special Advisor Ergün Olgun, Undersecretary Okan Donangil, and Director of the Office of the President Serkan İlseven looked for the map but could not find it!
- (UN Secretary-General Antonio) Guterres searching for common ground – The five-plus-one Cyprus conference will start in Geneva today. President Ersin Tatar is accompanied by the heads of political parties.
‘Confidence’ in politics must be reinstated
Diyalog’s reporters sought the views of over a hundred mukhtars regarding politics in the country, receiving important responses. Mukhtars in North Cyprus said serious steps must be taken to regain the public’s trust and confidence in politics as well as address the country’s problems. While the majority oppose early elections, they say that elections could take place if it will bring change. The majority also oppose the idea of the formation of new political parties.
- A strange situation – Tatar left for Geneva by announcing that he could not find the map presented by Akıncı at the negotiating table.
First official step for Taksim (Partition)
This is the point we have reached…Turkey together with (Ersin) Tatar will table the two-state model in Geneva. The Cyprus summit in Geneva is to commence today… Ersin Tatar, who held his final meeting with Tayyip Erdoğan in Ankara yesterday, is getting ready to table the two-state solution model based on sovereign equality.
- Passed away at the age of 100 – Living history of Cyprus Dr Vasos Lissaridis passed away at the age of 100.
- Lights will be turned off – This Country is Ours Platform called on the people to switch off their lights for one minute for three nights throughout the Geneva talks.
- 46 positive coronavirus cases in the north, 611 cases and three deaths in the south…
Main News
The 5+1 meeting will kick off with Guterres-Tatar meeting
Yenidüzen, Kıbrıs, Havadis, Diyalog, Avrupa
Negotiations Process
OVERVIEW
The eagerly awaited three-day informal five-plus-one meeting aimed at exploring whether or not there is common ground to launch a new round of talks to solve the Cyprus Problem is set to kick off in Geneva on Tuesday afternoon with a face-to-face meeting between UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar.
The UN chief will hold a similar meeting with the Greek Cypriot leader Nicos Anastasiades later in the day. The leaders will be accompanied by a maximum of five assistants each during the meetings.
On Tuesday evening, there will be a reception and the number of participants for each delegation is limited to three. However, the actual joint meetings with the participation of the three guarantor countries are set to take place on Wednesday.
On Wednesday morning, there will be a general meeting at the Palais des Nations (Palace of Nations) from 10 am to 1 pm. This meeting will be chaired by Guterres and will be attended by the two leaders Nicos Anastasiades and Ersin Tatar, the Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, the Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias and the British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab will make short statements. The number of advisors for each delegation is limited to five participants maximum.
A series of bilateral talks will be held at the Palais des Nations on Wednesday as well. Guterres and Cavusoglu meeting is scheduled at 2 pm, followed by Guterres-Dendias meeting at 3 pm, then with Raab at 4 and with Tatar at 5 pm and with Anastasiades at 6 pm.
Another reception will be held on Wednesday evening, followed by a dinner for the delegations however participation is limited to two persons from each. Thursday will start with bilateral talks again. Guterres will first meet with Tatar at 9 am followed by Anastasiades at 10 am.
A trilateral meeting will be held on Thursday at 11 am among Guterres, Anastasiades and Tatar. The parties will be accompanied by five assistants or advisors. The Geneva summit will be concluded on Thursday with a general meeting with all the participants. This meeting will start at noon and is expected to end by 2 pm.
The Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar is being accompanied by Foreign Minister Tahsin Ertuğruloğlu, negotiations team members Oğuzhan Hasipoğlu, Güneş Onar and Sülen Karabacak, Special Advisor Ergün Olgun, Senior Advisor Osman Ertuğ, and Tatar’s spokeswoman Berna Çelik Doğruyol.
National Unity Party (UBP) leader Ersan Saner, the leader of the main opposition Republican Turkish Party (CTP) Tufan Erhürman, People’s Party (HP) General Secretary Gülşah Sanver Manavoğlu, Democratic Party (DP) representative Atay Ahmet Raşit, Social Democratic Party (TDP) leader Cemal Özyiğit, and Rebirth Party (YDP) General Secretary Enver Öztürk are included in the Turkish Cypriot delegation.
Ankara fully behind the TC side’s two-state model
Yenidüzen, Kıbrıs, Havadis, Diyalog
Negotiations Process
OVERVIEW
Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar showed his guns one last time before the meeting in Geneva after consulting with the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in a stopover in Ankara on his way to Switzerland.
As expected, the two leaders discussed the Turkish side’s two-state proposal ahead of Tuesday’s Cyprus conference led by the United Nations. Speaking to Bayrak after meeting with Erdoğan, Tatar said he said he was in full unanimity with Ankara and reiterated the position on a two-state solution.
He added that he and Turkey were supporting two equal sovereign states side by side, cooperating with each other, “because if there is to be an agreement, talks must take place between states.”
“The whole international community has seen the realities on the island, as if one looks at Cyprus, after all, de facto there are two separate states,” he added. Tatar also said that their vision for two states is starting to be understood by the international community.
He added that Turkish Cypriots did not have another 50 years to waste negotiating a federal settlement and that it will not be possible to solve the Cyprus Problem as long as the inequality between the two sides continues. “The UN Security Council (UNSC) must also accept there are two separate and equally sovereign entities on the island before the launch of an official round of talks,” Tatar stressed, adding that the two-state model is the only feasible option for a fair and a lasting solution on the island.
Ankara in a separate statement issued on Monday said it fully supported the Turkish Cypriot side’s two-state model based on sovereign equality and cooperation. Also speaking after a cabinet meeting, Erdoğan said Turkey will not allow anyone to condemn Turkish Cypriots to a non-solution or force them to accept an undesirable settlement through embargoes and isolations.
KEY ACTORS
Tatar
>> TC side in full unanimity with Ankara on a two-state solution.
>> The international community is starting to understand the TC side’s vision for a two-state solution.
>> Cyprob will not be solved as long as inequality between the two sides continues.
>> UNSC must also accept there are two separate & equally sovereign entities on the island before the launch of an official round of talks.
>> Two-state model is the only feasible option for a fair & lasting solution on the island.
Erdoğan (Turkey)
>> Turkey will not allow anyone to impose a settlement on TCs.
Switch off lights for a brighter future in a united federal Cyprus
Yenidüzen, Kıbrıs, Havadis, Diyalog
Negotiations Process
OVERVIEW
“This Country is Ours Platform” has called on the public to show its support for a federal settlement on the island by switching off lights for one minute at 9:30 every night for the next three days.
“The campaign will start on Tuesday night running through till Thursday to have an effect on the talks during the five-plus-one meeting in Geneva,” a statement from the platform read.
Human traffickers caught red-handed
Yenidüzen, Kıbrıs, Havadis, Diyalog
Human Rights
OVERVIEW
A court in the north has ordered two Turkish Cypriot men who were arrested by police on April 22 whilst were waiting on a beach to pick up 16 undocumented Syrian migrants arriving from Turkey to smuggle them across the border to the south to be remanded in custody for eight days.
A police officer leading the investigation told the court that the suspects were arrested near a beach-front hotel in Güneşköy (Nikitas) on April 22 as they were waiting for the migrants to arrive. Acting upon a tip, the police caught the human traffickers on the beach.