Front Page Headlines
Thy got lost in the plans, Annita is House President
Garoyian’s proposal for Andros’ election shipwrecked and the surprise came from ELAM. Nicolas’-Sizopoulos’ backstage consultations overturned the agreement in principle of DISY, AKEL, DIPA, the Greens and EDEK for joint support of Andros Kyprianou. ELAM was forced in the second round to withdraw the candidacy of Christos Christou to prevent the election of the secretary-general of AKEL, and supported Annita Demetriou. DISY dominates the political game by controlling the executive and legislative power. Second defeat within a few days for AKEL and DIKO from wrong estimates.
- Commission: Stop naturalisations now
- Epidemiologists: They are being dragged in court
- Biden-Erdogan: The US is not joking
Annita, Averof have dominated
She grabbed the House presidency from their hands. Second defeat for the opposition. The new president was elected with 25 votes by DISY, DIPA, and ELAM.
- The questioning begins for the naturalisations
- Impressive exercise, Nikitis (Victor)-Demetra 2021
- Interest has decreased now for vaccination in the EU and Cyprus – Just 22.3% of Europeans has been fully vaccinated.
DISY-ELAM-DIPA, hand in hand, ‘sealed’ the House presidency
Annita Demetriou was elected as new House President with 25 votes.
- Varosha refugees are organising a mobilisation-protest rally
- ‘No’ by the Pancyprian Peace Council to Cyclops – Rally on Sunday at 10 am.
- ‘Golden’ passports: The process of pending applications violates EU law
First-ever female House president
‘Today, more than ever we must regain our lost credibility,’ she said of her office.
- ‘Shocking’ meddling by Turkey in north election
The winner is Averof, Annita is the House President
Historic day: For the first time a woman, and a young one at that, at the House presidency. The DISY leader, with shrewd handling, succeeded in having his party’s and, in essence, his own candidate elected House president when everyone was expecting that Andros Kyprianou would be the winner. More women in Cabinet? Anastasiades: the message was addressed also to me.
- 108 British, Russians, French and Cypriots are behind the lawsuits on coronavirus – The restrictive measures, they said, have affected their human rights. The members of the health ministry’s scientific committee and the attorney-general will present in court today.
- EU Commission to Cyprus: Stop processing pending passport applications
Main News
Famagusta refugees to protest Varosha provocations
Haravgi, Phileleftheros
Territory, Human Rights
OVERVIEW
Haravgi reports that Famagusta refugees are organising a protest rally against the new fait accompli to be recorded in the presence of the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on July 20 in their occupied town.
Moves concerning Famagusta’s fenced area, Varosha, stir reactions among its legal residents and the town’s municipal authority, the daily reports. The work that has been feverishly carried out since Erdogan held his notorious ‘picnic’ there, concerns the cleaning of public places and parks, electricity and water supply and opening of beaches that can be used by TCs and GCs. It also reports that Turkey considers that the demolition of Faliro restaurant in Varosha, was a result of wear and tear of the building over time.
The daily also reports that the Turkish side, in its protests to the permanent members of the Security Council (and beyond) claims that the UN resolutions are not violated because there are no interventions in private property. Their audacity reaches the point of characterising the reactions of the GC side as “theatrical”, the daily reported.
Citing diplomatic sources, it also reports that the issue of Varosha is expected to be raised at the meeting of the Greek Prime Minister with the Turkish President on the sidelines of the NATO summit on June 14.
In addition, the municipality of Famagusta, in coordination with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is taking steps towards the “5” of the Security Council, as well as in the EU. A letter has already been sent from the municipality to the UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, on the new provocations, the paper reports.
Phileleftheros reports statements in the north that two Varosha beaches will be opened to the public and that the illegal works there continue at a fast pace, while the next step in the plans of Turkish authorities is settlement of the fenced area.
Alithia and Phileleftheros also report on the visit in the north of Turkey’s Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Adil Karaismailoglu and the announcement that within the next decade, 314 kilometres of roads will be constructed in the occupied areas. Phileleftheros reports that the occupation regime is proceeding with new projects to upgrade the pseudo-state with funding from the Turkish government.
Report reveals Turkey’s meddling in TC leader election
Cyprus Mail
Governance & Power Sharing
OVERVIEW
The daily, citing TC journalist Esra Aygin, reports that an investigation on allegations of Turkey’s interference in the 2020 elections for the TC leader has revealed alarming details of the pressure put on then incumbent Mustafa Akinci, as well as other candidates and journalists.
Aygin, in a blog post on Thursday evening, said a report by a team of civil society representatives, lawyers and researchers had outlined “blatant interference by Ankara” in favour of hardliner Ersin Tatar who ousted Akinci with 51.69 per cent of the vote.
According to Aygin, Akinci told the rapporteurs that a team from Turkish Intelligence Agency MIT, directed the elections on behalf of Tatar. Akinci’s private secretary Cenk Gurcag was invited to meet with the MIT officials. According to the report, the MIT officials told Gurcag: “The enemy is at the door. We need people, who love Turkey, who will not betray Turkey, who will cooperate with Turkey, to lead this place. We don’t want Akinci here. He will not win. We will make sure he doesn’t win. Even if he does, nothing will be the same.” The MIT official told Curcag convey to Akinci that it would be best for him, his family, and his close colleagues to withdraw his candidacy. He said this came “from the very top.”
Aygin reports that once Akinci found out, he summoned Turkey’s ambassador but he declined, saying he had orders from Ankara. He reportedly told Akinci that his positions as TC leader did not align with Turkey’s.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan had also encouraged right-wing parties to agree on a joint candidate to help oust Akinci.
Aygin also cites journalist and head of TC Journalists Union BASIN-SEN Ali Kismir, who said he had been invited to meet with a team from Turkey. Kismir is quoted as saying in the report that they told him they were in the north to make sure Akinci, who, they said was a US agent, an enemy of Turkey and a collaborator of the GCs, was not elected. Kismir too said they asked him to tell Akinci not to run and warned that if he is elected, very bad things would happen to him.
Kismir was also told there was a ‘list’ of Turkey’s enemies being made for after the elections but he was told his name would be removed if he withdrew his support for Akinci, according to Aygin. Around 50 journalists were reportedly put on notice in the same manner and several others who were interviewed had similar stories to tell, Cyprus Mail reports.
CoE wants more info from Turkey on 1996 GCs’ killings & injuries
Alithia
Human Rights
OVERVIEW
The paper reports that the Council of Europe (CoE) cornered Turkey over four killings and one life-threatening injury of GCs in 1996.
The daily cites the CoE’s Committee of Ministers’ call on the Turkish authorities to provide additional information on a number of issues by the end of the year and its statement that it will resume the examination of these cases in June 2022 at the latest.
The Committee, which supervises the implementation of judgments from the European Court of Human Rights, has published its decision concerning the Kakoulli and Isaak groups of cases against Turkey. It recalled that these cases concern four killings and one life-threatening injury of GCs in 1996, three of which took place during demonstrations in or around the United Nations buffer zone in Cyprus, due to excessive use of force or fire-arms by Turkish or TC military or police forces and lack of effective and impartial investigations. It also recalled that the killing of the applicants’ relative in the Isaak case involved also private individuals.
Regarding the Kakoulli case, it noted that the passage of time makes it difficult to further clarify the facts, while expressing regret that the Turkish authorities did not proactively deploy efforts to gather additional evidence by hearing additional witnesses. The Committee invited Turkey to provide a rigorous analysis by a competent body of the precise grounds on which the legal framework authorised the use of lethal force and of the exact provisions, which rendered lawful the use of lethal force by the soldier in the circumstances as established by the authorities, as well as to provide translations of the applicable provisions.
It also noted with deep concern, as regards the Isaak and Solomou cases, that the information provided so far was “clearly insufficient” to respond to the findings of the European Court. The Committee urged the Turkish authorities to indicate the concrete factual and legal reasons for their conclusion that officers and private persons acted lawfully, as well as to provide translations of relevant decisions and materials necessary for understanding these decisions from the 1996 investigations and the 2011 review.
Regarding the Kallis and Androulla Panayi case, the Committee said it took note with interest of the readiness of the Turkish authorities to assess the possibility of re-examination of the file by the Attorney-General’s Office and invited them to re-examine the file and indicate whether further investigation by an independent authority is possible in the killing of the applicants’ son, taking into account the conclusions of the European Court. (Their son, Stellios, 19, was serving in the National Guard and was killed in June 1996 by the Turkish occupation forces when he entered the UN buffer zone, while off duty and unarmed).
As concerns the Andreou case, it invited the Turkish authorities to carry out an assessment of the possibility to carry out an effective investigation in the circumstances of the applicant’s injury, including on whether senior officials, who gave an order to shoot at demonstrators, acted in compliance with domestic law, the report said, according to the daily.
EU-Greek officials to take part in same forum as Tatar
Phileleftheros
Regional/International Relations, EU Matters
OVERVIEW
In a comment, the daily reports that important members of the international political scene, including Greek and EU officials, are participating in what it called as “the fiasco of diplomats in Antalya” in which TC leader Ersin Tatar is presented as ‘president’ of the ‘trnc’.
Referring to the Antalya Diplomacy Forum, the daily reports that participants include EU High Representative Josep Borrell, Vice President of the EU Commission Margaritis Schinas, Carl Bildt, former EU Commissioner for migration Dimitris Avramopoulos, secretary general of the regional cooperation council Malinda Bregu, and former Greek foreign minister and current MP Dora Bakoyannis.
The paper said this was a festival of Turkish guile with participations from Azerbaijan, Somalia, Kosovo, Albania, Bosnia, several NGOs serving Turkish interests from around the world, Moldovan separatists, Crimean Tatars, European and other countries as well.
Ersin Tatar and Tahsin Ertugruloglu also participate in the Forum, not as observers but as they want to be, as ‘president’ and ‘foreign minister’ of the so-called ‘Turkish Republic of northern Cyprus’, without quotation marks, the daily said.
The paper said that the following questions arise: Did Nicosia hear about this? Has any action been taken to cancel the entries? And, are Avramopoulos, Bakoyannis and Schinas, especially Schinas, not ashamed? it asked.
New House president elected
Alithia, Cyprus Mail, Haravgi, Phileleftheros, Politis
Governance & Power Sharing
OVERVIEW
The election of DISY vice-president and MP Annita Demetriou as House President is the main item in all dailies on Friday.
Demetriou was elected in the second round of vote after securing the backing of DISY, DIPA and ELAM. The dailies also report that Demetriou, 35, is the youngest person and the first woman ever to be voted as House president. She received 25 votes, followed by AKEL leader Andros Kyprianou who got 18 (from AKEL and the Greens), DIKO leader Nicolas Papadopoulos and EDEK leader Marinos Sizopoulos, who got 13 each, DIPA leader Marios Garoyian, four, and leader of the Greens, Charalambos Theopemptou, three.
ELAM leader Christos Christou withdrew his candidacy in the second round and his party backed Demetriou.
Demetriou said after her election that today, more than ever “we must regain our lost credibility and to do that we need to operate objectively, impartially and chiefly through collaborations building the Cyprus of tomorrow, the Cyprus we deserve.”
After the vote, AKEL accused ELAM of acting as DISY’s crutch, with the far-right party stating it backed Demetriou to block AKEL from taking over the second in command official post of the Republic. The House president also acts as nominal head of state in Cyprus when the president is overseas or otherwise indisposed. DIKO and EDEK backed each other.
Haravgi reports that the flirtation between the government and DISY with far-right ELAM but also DIPA was transformed into action yesterday and led to Demetriou’s election as Speaker of Parliament.
According to Politis, though it was ELAM’s four MPs that defined yesterday’s result, DISY and the government avoid any references to the far-right party, which, in short, has helped sort out another major issue, after that of the state budget last December, by siding with the ruling party.
Alithia reports that this was a victory for DISY leader Averof Neophytou who, through shrewd manipulations, succeeded in having his party’s and the candidate he chose, voted as House president when everyone thought Kyprianou would win. The daily also reports that Demetriou is the first House President coming from DISY since 1976 when Glafcos Clerides held that post.
Large-scale annual military exercise wraps up
Phileleftheros
Internal Security
OVERVIEW
According to the paper, the National Guard’s inter-sectoral broad-scale military exercise Nikitis (Victor)-Demetra 2021 which started on June 3m will wrap up today.
In a statement, the Ministry of Defence states that the exercise is carried out in the land, sea and air space of the free territory of the Republic of Cyprus with the participation of units of the National Guard, while in some phases of the exercise, reservists were called in.
It also notes that this exercise that is being conducted in its current form on an annual basis for the last eight years is a regular exercise with troops, combined with exercises without troops.
The objective of the exercise is to train all staff in decision-making processes, to convert decisions into instructions and orders in a period of intense crisis and operations, as well as the training of departments in operational scenarios, the ministry said, according to the daily.