Front Page Headlines
The indescribable pain of a mother
Neslihan Kırma, the mother of eight-year-old Ceren who we lost spoke to Yenidüzen. “All three of my children had rapid tests done on Saturday which came out negative. They were fine when they went to school on Monday. When my daughter came back home she was tired. She threw up a couple of times that night and we went to the hospital the next day. We waited from 2 pm to 8 pm for her tests to come back. During that time she fainted. Her PCR test came back positive and we were referred to the pandemic hospital. From there onwards her condition deteriorated and then we lost her,” Kırma said.
Soaring prices swallow minimum wage!
The country has turned into a complete mess due to rising prices, making it nearly impossible for people who get by on a minimum wage of ₺4,324 (€381) to make ends meet. ₺4,024 (€354.5) of the minimum wage goes to rent, utility bills and food.
- Not possible to deliver the promises made in the government programme in two-and-a-half months – The National Unity Party (UBP)-Democratic Party (DP) coalition’s government programme was discussed in parliament. The leaders of the opposition parties accused the government of making “implausible promises” and of being “insincere and unserious.”
- Pressed the button for the new presidential palace – The Council of Ministers authorised the Ministry of Public Works and Communication to prepare the draft protocol agreement for the new presidential palace.
Empty promises
The UBP-DP coalition’s government programme was discussed in the parliament. The opposition parties unite in criticism that the programme is filled with ‘empty promises.’
- Anyone concerned about the country should attend – “This Country is Ours” Platform will organise a rally under the theme of “I am doing something about my country” and call on everyone to join.
- The hospitals filled to the brim in the south – The number of Covid-19 patients admitted to intensive care in South Cyprus tripled.
This can’t go on like this
The Electricity Authority is incurring losses up to ₺50m (€4.3m) a month while experienced staff are slowly retiring. The authority is experiencing difficulties solving power faults and breakdowns. While hundreds of homes experienced power outages due to the strong winds which brought down power lines, the President of the Board of Directors of the Turkish Cypriot Electricity Authority (KIB-TEK) Tufan Büyükyılmaz drew attention to the growing number of retirement applications that have been submitted. He said that 18 persons had filled in their retirement forms. “The number of personnel which was 680 when I assumed the post has not fallen below 600,” Büyükyılmaz said as he drew attention to the problems experienced as a result of more and more experienced staff retired. He also said that the authority was incurring heavy losses in terms of revenues and that they could be finding it difficult to pay salaries in January. The authority cannot continue to operate this way, he said.
- 52 per cent of the need – Wind turbines in South Cyprus produced 304MV of electricity.
They waited until her heart stopped
Neslihan Kırma, who was shattered by the death of her eight-year-old daughter, talked about what they experienced at the pandemic hospital. “No one came to our help,” she said. Meryem, who was suffering from severe abdominal pain, was taken to the emergency ward but she was made to wait on the stretcher for a long time…Hours later, the nurses took her blood to carry out tests… When Meryem tested positive for coronavirus, she was transferred to the Pandemic Hospital. No treatment was administered to her but when her condition worsened she was given oxygen, only to pass away soon after.
- Is the health ministry covering up (the death of Meryem)? – Health Minister Ali Pilli said the autopsy results showed that Meryem passed away due to complications caused by Covid-19.
Main News
The new gate at Lokmacı (Ledra St.) crossing sparks criticism
Yenidüzen, Kıbrıs, Havadis Diyalog, Avrupa
CBMs
OVERVIEW
It emerged on Thursday that the so-called renovation works at the Lokmacı (Ledra St.) turned out to be the installation of a steel gate, drawing harsh criticisms from pro-federal solution groups on both sides of the island.
They argued that the Greek Cypriot authorities, using renovation works as an excuse, had taken one step closer to transforming the green line into a hard border.” The Bicommunal activist group UniteCyprusNow (UCN) on Twitter protested the Greek Cypriot side’s decision to install the gate.
UCN tweeted “Stop turning the Green Line into a hard, fenced border crossing through the heart of our capital!” with a slogan reading: “One Cyprus – No Barricades.”
Senior PRIO researcher Mete Hatay in a social media post pointed out the so-called renovation works were to install a massive gate, arguing that the Greek Cypriot authority is converting the crossing points to permanent borders.
“Moreover, the Greek Cypriot administration after granting the buffer zone monitoring tender to Israel will treat the north like the Gaza strip,” Hatay argued.
A well-known economist and Famagusta Initiative activist Mertkan Hamit directly asked the Greek Cypriot leader Nicos Anastasiades on Twitter: “Why do you hate your country so much?” and published the photograph of the iron gate installed at the Lokmacı (Ledra St.).
This Country is Ours Platform called on everyone to join the rally on Saturday
Yenidüzen, Kıbrıs, Havadis Diyalog, Avrupa
Negotiations Process
OVERVIEW
“This Country is Ours” Platform on Thursday urged “every patriot” to attend an upcoming rally being held this Saturday, November 13 at İnönü Square in the northern part of Nicosia.
In a statement issued, the platform said they are determined to continue with their struggle until they prevent the permanent partition of the island achieving reunification of the two sides under the federal umbrella. The platform also outlined their demands and reasons for organising the rally.
It said the demand to put an end to “granting of citizenship to eradicate the Turkish Cypriot community’s political will” and demand revisions to be made to the citizenship law, revoking the provision of ‘granting exceptional citizenship’ and revoking the authority of the “Council of Ministers” to grant citizenship.
The platform noted they want to end the economic regime-controlled through the financial protocol agreements signed with Turkey by reinstating a sound economic model based on planning and with the implementation of a fair tax regime. They also want to develop and modernise the Turkish Cypriot public institutions such as KIBTEK (Turkish Cypriot Electricity Authority), and ports preventing them from being privatised.
The group also laid out its demand to adopt Euro as the main currency in the north even though the acquis is suspended to protect people from inflation caused by the constant devaluation of the Turkish Lira. It stressed that they will stand against any attempts to eradicate the Turkish Cypriot community’s secular character and will not allow any community-engineering efforts.
The platform said they will also stand against any policies that will result in the permanent partition of the island and they will continue their struggle for the reunification of the two sides with a bizonal, bicommunal federal model based on the political equality of the two communities and in line with the UN parameters.
The opposition in the north slams the new government’s programme
Yenidüzen, Kıbrıs, Havadis Diyalog, Avrupa
Governance & Power Sharing
OVERVIEW
The top three opposition parties in the Turkish Cypriot parliament – the Republican Turkish Party (CTP), the People’s Party (HP) and the Social Democratic Party (TDP) all said they will vote against the National Unity Party (UBP)-Democrat Party (DP) coalition government’s programme when it is put to a vote of confidence on Saturday.
The vote will take place a full day after a debate on the programme which was completed on Thursday. Addressing MPs during the debate on Thursday, TDP leader Cemal Özyiğit said that the government programme was full of promises, none of which were plausible.
Pointing out to the dire economic situation in the north, Özyiğit highlighted that the people’s purchasing power was drastically shrinking by the day and that the minimum wage was now well below the poverty threshold.
“The Finance Ministry is struggling to pay the salaries at the end of the month after the government exceeded the limit it can draw out from the banks,” Özyiğit stressed, arguing that it is not possible to establish fiscal discipline with cost-saving measures as promised in the programme.
Özyiğit also slammed Prime Minister Faiz Sucuoğlu for presenting his cabinet to the Turkish ambassador for approval before submitting it to Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar.
“You are turning the ambassador into a governor,” Özyiğit said, arguing that such actions by Sucuoğlu only served to reinforce the perception that the government in the north was a sub-administration of Turkey. He said that such moves also contradicted the Turkish Cypriot side’s current policy of a two-state solution based on sovereign equality.
Also speaking, the leader of the People’s Party (HP) Kudret Özersay criticised the UBP-DP coalition for not deriving lessons from the previous three-party coalition. He said that the government has set unrealistic goals and promises in its programme.
“The current coalition government is being established with the sole purpose of leading the country into early elections,” he said, adding that “It would have been more sincere if Sucuoğlu had presented a concise programme.
The leader of the main opposition CTP leader Tufan Erhürman for his part said that none of the cabinet members was aware of what was included in the government programme. He said that the government, ridiculously vowing to complete an electricity supply project from Turkey in two and half months.
Erhürman said that what Sucuoğlu should have done was to propose a few short term steps that could restore the public’s purchasing power currently eroded by the economic crisis. “Instead the government has remained callous to the real problems and the Turkish Cypriot community is suffering price hikes and the devaluation of the Turkish Lira,” he said.
Responding to the criticisms, Faiz Sucuoğlu said that he had prepared such an extensive and detailed programme because his party was expecting to win the upcoming elections and remain in office for the next four to five years.
Sucuoğlu also denied the allegations that he sought approval from the Turkish Embassy for his cabinet. He repeated his argument that he had sought advice from financial experts and that his visit before presenting the cabinet was a mere coincidence. “Otherwise, we continue our relations with Turkey at the highest level and without any problems,” Sucuoğlu concluded.
Imagine project resumed its training following the pandemic break
Yenidüzen, Kıbrıs, Havadis Diyalog, Avrupa
CBMs, Human Rights
OVERVIEW
Association for Historical Dialogue & Research (AHDR) on Wednesday announced that the bicommunal education project “Imagine” is back from the “pandemic break” and that its training programme will soon start.
In a statement issued, AHDR said since the beginning of the pandemic, ‘Imagine’ activities with students were on hold due to changing health and safety regulations.
The continuation of the program was announced at the official launch organized at the Home for Cooperation (H4C) with H.E. the Ambassador of Germany, Ms Anke Schlimm, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General of UN Peacekeeping force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) Elizabeth Spehar, and co-chairs of the Technical Committee on Education Prof Dr Ersun İşçioğlu and Prof Dr Michalinos Zembylas.
Representatives from all teacher trade unions and board members from the AHDR, the H4C and PeacePlayers Cyprus were also present at the event to show their support to the ‘Imagine’ project.
The ‘Imagine’ Project is implemented by AHDR and the Home for Cooperation under the auspices of the Technical Committee on Education and is funded by the Federal Foreign Office of the Republic of Germany. The project is also supported by the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) and the Office of the SASG on Cyprus (OSASG).