That was the TRNC week that was!

30th OCTOBER 2012

PRESIDENT EROĞLU: “WE WANTED TO END THE NEGOTIATIONS PROCESS WITH A CALENDAR AFTER THE ELECTIONS IN SOUTH CYPRUS”

President Derviş Eroğlu indicated that they wanted to end the negotiations process with a calendar just after the elections in February in South Cyprus. President Eroğlu added: “We want support from all our friends and from all those who want an agreement otherwise everyone should go their own way and that we should not be obstructed.”

Expressing that UN, EU and all countries related to Cyprus should put forward the realities in front of the Greek Cypriots if they want an agreement in Cyprus Eroğlu said: “they should tell the Greek Cypriots that they should not continue to impose unjust embargoes on the Turkish Cypriots and that our sport teams and youngsters have the right to play football with the other teams in the world.”

Adding that there has been no subject that has not been yet discussed in the Cyprus problem since 1968, Eroğlu said that an agreement could be reached if the Greek-Greek Cypriot duo had a sincere wish and political will. Eroğlu also said that there was no reason for a disagreement if their intention was not to drag Turkish Cypriots to the pre 1974 period and abolish the full and effective guarantee of motherland Turkey.

31st OCTOBER 2012

ERDOGAN: “THERE IS NOT A COUNTRY CALLED ‘CYPRUS’ IN THE WORLD

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stressed that in his visit to Germany that Germany has accepted that they made a mistake by taking south Cyprus into the EU however they insist on the mistake.

Erdogan answered the questions of the participants after his speech at the ‘Europe Further the Crisis’ meeting of the Nicholas Berggruen Institute.

Erdogan recorded the following: “there are divided countries and countries that have political conflicts in the EU Acquis. Divided countries cannot be accepted to the EU. For example a country called ‘Cyprus’ is referred to in the EU. There is not a country called ‘Cyprus’ in the world. There is Greek Cypriot Administration of South Cyprus. There is North Cyprus and there is Green Line in between.

Now the EU countries don’t see this Green Line. What they do they say? They say Cyprus. How can this happen? Is there a relationship with South and North Cyprus? Not at all. North Cyprus is completely separate and the EU and others recognize South Cyprus.

Now the EU Term President is South Cyprus. Negotiations have been interrupted now since we don’t recognize them. There shall be no negotiation until the end of this period. This is against the EU Acquis. Mrs. Merkel said: “we made a mistake by taking South Cyprus in the EU.” But there is insistence on this mistake. Şansöyle Schröder wrote about the injustice towards Turkey during that period.

STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP RELATIONS WITH RUSSIA

It was reported that Greek politicians’ initiatives to develop the relations between South Cyprus and Russia have gained speed. Greek Cypriot Presidential candidate Yorgos Lillikas expressed during his last contact in Moscow that strategic partnership should be established with Russia. It was also stressed that AKEL Secretary General Andros Kiprianu has been continuing his contacts on this issue.

According to the headline of Greek Cypriot daily Simerini ‘Strategic Partnership Relations with Russia’, Lillikas arranged a press meeting and gave information about the round table meeting that he participated in Moscow. Lillikas also said that it was time for developing relations between South Cyprus and Russia.

Moreover, adding that Russian authorities showed great interest especially in the ’Exclusive Economical Zone of South Cyprus, Lillikas said that Russia called the Greek Cypriot side to express their interest for hydrocarbon during the negotiations with Troika.

1st NOVEMBER 2012

APPROVAL OF 2013 BUDGET

Council of Ministers of Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus approved the budget of 3,421,632,028. TL for the year 2013. TRNC Prime Minister led the meeting of Council of Ministers and after being approved the budget was sent to General Assembly of TRNC.

The Finance Minister Ersin Tatar stated that they anticipated % 5 increases in the income for the 2013 budget and this shows that stability was achieved. Tatar also underlined that there is decrease in the deficiency of the budget comparing with 2012 and he thanked the Turkish Republic who contributed the TRNC 2013 budget with 1 billion Turkish Liras.

GERMAN MINISTER DROPS A BOMBSHELL

Schaeuble doesn’t expect concrete negotiations with Cyprus until 2013

GERMAN Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said on 31st October that he did not expect concrete negotiations between Cyprus and international lenders to start before 2013, suggesting that the island has missed a November 12 deadline and could be at risk of running out of money before the end of the year.

Speaking at a news conference in Berlin after a telephone conference with his euro-zone counterparts, Schaeuble said there had not yet been any concrete negotiations with Cyprus on financial assistance and he did not expect them to commence until 2013.

The unexpected comment flies in the face of everything the government has been stating publicly about the extent of progress in the negotiations and the expected return of the troika. (The Greek Cypriot Daily Cyprus Mail)

MIGRATION OF FOREIGN PEOPLE CHANGES DEMOGRAPHIC STRUCTURE OF GREEK CYPRIOT COMMUNITY

It has been reported that the demographic structure of the Greek Cypriot community is changing because of the migration of many foreign people.

According to the news of Greek Cypriot daily Fileleftheros, Greek Cypriot Statistical Department has announced the data obtained from the last population census conducted in 2011.

Giving reference to this data, the newspaper stated that rate of fertility (Births) in South Cyprus decreases, average life expectancy increases, population growth in a year is 2.6% however the reason of this is foreign migration.

The newspaper also pointed out that natural rate of increase of Greek Cypriot population is 4. 9 per thousand. The newspaper comparatively reflected the figures concerning the rate of increase of the population during 1990-2011 and published a table including the data concerning the demography.

2nd NOVEMBER 2012

EROĞLU: “I SAT AT THE NEGOTIATION TABLE FOR AN AGREEMENT”

TRNC President Dr. Derviş Eroğlu stated that he sat at the negotiation table with the intention of an agreement and he has put forth his determination in the proposals he submitted.

The President has accepted the members of Cyprus Academic Dialogue composed of Turkish and Greek Cypriots academicians. Dr. Derviş Eroğlu made a speech during the meeting and stated that he sat at the negotiation table with the intention of an agreement like the former President and added that he has put forth his determination with a letter he sent to UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon.

Stating that he discussed other topics except the guarantees, Eroğlu pointed out that he suggested a summit to Ban in order to explain the intention on agreement of the Turkish Cypriot side and they realized 5 summits.

Eroğlu said “from the first summit, Secretary General defended the opinion of ‘if you can agree till the end of June, you can agree’. Secretary General has transparently put forth that an agreement would not be possible after the Greek Cypriot side became EU term-president”.

Eroğlu expressed that Turkish Cypriot side always suggested proposals with the idea of an agreement till the end of June however Greek Cypriot side came to the last summit with the ‘4 no’ of the National Council and therefore the desired result could not be achieved.

STATEMENTS OF ERDOGAN SATISFIED EU

It was reported that statements of the Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan regarding Turkey’s EU membership which proved his commitment for EU membership satisfied the EU.

Spokesman of EU Commissioner Responsible for Enlargement Stefan Fule, Peter Stano said in his statement ‘We are very glad for hearing Erdogan’s commitment to abide by the EU membership’.

Moreover, it was said that Greek Cypriot side and France unilaterally prevented the opening of 10 chapters at Turkey’s accession negotiations.

UNEMPLOYMENT RATE IN SOUTH CYPRUS IS 12.2 FOR SEPTEMBER

According to the Greek Cypriot Newspaper Politis the rate of unemployment is 12.2% in South Cyprus which means over 53 thousand people are unemployed. The newspaper noted that the rate of unemployment is moving towards dramatic numbers and some measures must be taken urgently.

On the other hand Filelefteros Newspaper underlined that the unemployment rate of South Cyprus is over the rate at the EU and Euro Zone and noted that unemployment rate at the EU is 10.6% and in the Euro Zone it is 11.6%