TRNC News Today 26^th January 2015

The wheeler-dealer President has angered everyone

By Loucas Charalambous – Cyprus Mail – January 25, 2015  (To read this and more articles click here)

OUR PRESIDENT is not a politician. He is a compulsive, but clumsy wheeler-dealer. He thinks that he can fool everyone. This compulsion is the reason that – unfortunately for him and the country – today he finds himself in this tragicomic position. He has become a prisoner of his wheeler-dealing. Nobody believes him now and nobody trusts him at home or abroad.

This column had warned that Anastasiades would eventually be caught out. When he quit the talks I wrote that he would suffer the same fate as the likeable Nicosia character Takis, who would throw all the things he was carrying on the road when he became angry. As soon as his anger subsided he would patiently pick everything up again. Now Anastasiades is also picking up his things, looking for a way or a pretext to return to the talks. I wrote that by leaving the negotiations, supposedly so as not allow the issue of natural gas (which is proving to be hot air) to become part of the talks he would achieve the exact opposite and put it on the negotiating table. Now he has trapped himself. The worst is not that the talks have stopped. Whether these resume or not is irrelevant. As we do not want a settlement, what is the point of talks anyway? The worst is that he has turned everyone against us. His latest achievement – the interview he gave Mega TV 10 days ago – is unprecedented. In the space of a few minutes, he managed to antagonise the whole world and in a rather self-humiliating way. He claimed to have been deceived by the US vice president and ambassador, the UK, the EU, the UN, Turkey and even Russia. Not even the late Spyros Kyprianou, renowned for his bizarre outbursts, had attacked so many at the same time.But as I said, Anastasiades is under the impression that through wheeler-dealing he can fool everyone. He thinks he can fool the UN, the Americans and the Europeans into believing that he supposedly wants a settlement and is seeking their help. But when the time actually comes for him to take practical steps he remembers that he should not disappoint Papadopoulos, Omirou and Lillikas, so he comes up with excuses to prevaricate. And he uses the help of the protagonists of 2004 ‘no’ campaign, like Andreas Mavroyiannis, Nicos Emiliou and others to help solve the Cyprus problem. This only infuriates all those he has fooled abroad. He has managed to turn everyone abroad, including the UN against us.

The UN Secretary-General’s report on Cyprus was a strong indication – regardless of whether we want to admit it – that Ban Ki-moon has had enough of our president’s antics. Anastasiades appears to have taken a leaf out of the book of Archbishop Makarios and Spyros Kyprianou. The world has conspired against us he claims, just so that he can urge us to “stay close to me so I can protect you.” These are very old tricks which nobody buys nowadays. He has also been taking the Turkish Cypriots that support a settlement for a ride. For the first 10 months of his presidency – from March to December 2013 – he was telling them that he was ready for a settlement but wanted a little time for the situation to clear at his then coalition partner DIKO.

In October and December of 2013 I had met two Turkish Cypriot politicians, who were directly involved with the handling of the Cyprus problem. Both were very pleased with Anastasiades and spoke with certainty of a settlement within months. One of them told me, “we celebrated more than you did over the election of Anastasiades.” When I expressed my doubts, one of them said that the settlement was ready, that they had reached agreement on a couple of thorny issues with Anastasiades. They said Anastasiades had requested, however, that these developments be left until after the DIKO election congress in December, because he wanted to help Marios Garoyian to prevail over Nicolas Papadopoulos in the leadership contest. I was quite surprised by the absolute faith they had in our president’s promises. Now, they also say they had been fooled by him, although not publicly. In the end they too fell victim to his wheeler-dealing, just like the rest of us.

Sociologist Kudret Akay announces results of the survey on Political Trends

Socialist Kudret Akay announced results of the survey on political trends conducted in December 2014 in order to determine the preferences of Turkish Cypriots regarding the mentality and solution model for the Cyprus problem. Akay stated that, as a result of the survey, it appeared that Turkish Cypriots adopted a solution model based on the pragmatic interests, not a solution model based on peace, brotherhood and a common country with the Greek Cypriots.

Stating that the concepts like peace, brotherhood, the EU membership and common country which are perceived or emphasized with a solution are replaced with other parameters, Akay pointed out that when the Greek Cypriots rejected the solution model in the 2004 referendum, a process of alienation towards the solution model shaped with these concepts started for the Turkish Cypriots.

Survey indicates that 62.7% of the TRNC voters want a bi-zonal and bi-communal federal solution as it is generally defined by the UN; on the other hand 60.1% of the voters do not believe that this model can be achieved.

93.7% of the TRNC voters believe that it is impossible to reach a solution disapproved by Turkey and 63.1% of the voters are in favour of the continuation of the existing rights of guarantorship. 57.5% of the voters expressed the opinion that Turkish military should exist in the island even after a solution.

Percentage of the voters who are against settlement of the Greek Cypriots in the Turkish Cypriot side is 67.1% and 60.5% expressed that they are against the restitution of the properties to the Greek Cypriots.

Water started to be collected at Alaköprü Dam today

Within the framework of the Project which will provide water to the TRNC, water started to be collected at Alaköprü Dam.

Minister of Forestry and Water Affairs of Turkey – Veysel Eroğlu stated that as well as supplying drinking water to the TRNC, 84000 decares of land in Anamur will be irrigated with modern technology by Alaköprü Dam. Indicating that farmers of Anamur will also benefit from the Alaköprü Dam, Eroğlu underlined that by this way an important stage of the project will be completed.

President of Chamber of Commerce Toros meets with EU Authorities

President of the Turkish Cypriot Chamber of Commerce – Fikri Toros had a meeting with Normunds Popens, Deputy Director-General of the EU Commission Responsible for the Regional and Urban Policy and Michale Di Bucci, Chief of the Turkish Cypriot Desk.

During the meeting which was held for the first time after Turkish Cypriot desk’s being transferred from General Directorate of Enlargement to Regional Policies, Toros gave detailed information about cooperation of the Turkish Cypriot Chamber of Commerce with the EU and expressed urgent expectations of the Chamber of Commerce regarding the Direct Trade Regulation, registration of Hellim as protected designation of  origin (PDO), speeding up the harmonization process and development of the Green Line Regulation.

Furthermore, stressing the importance of revision and the improvement of application of the Green Line Regulation, Toros expressed that not developing a solution mechanism for the Turkish Cypriot producers during the registration of hellim in the EU will affect the Turkish Cypriot economy in a negative way.

NEU Hospital participates in East Mediterranean International Tourism and Travel Exhibition

It has been indicated that the NEU Hospital participated in the East Mediterranean International Tourism and Travel Exhibition (EMITT) which is being held in İstanbul and introduced the possibilities of health tourism in the country and made new agreements for the year 2015.

General Director of Tourism Establishments and Board Member of the NEU Hospital – Ahmet Savaşan who is in İstanbul, described the health and tourism possibilities in North Cyprus to the representatives of various countries, mayors and local and foreign Journalists. Savaşan also made new agreements for guiding patients from various countries to take health service from North Cyprus.

Our View: Our politicians need to leave their fantasy world

Cyprus Mail – January 25, 2015  (To read this and more articles click here)

DELUSIONS and myths have always been the currency of Cyprus political life, which took a divorce from reality from the day the Republic was established. Ever since, our politicians have been operating in a fantasy world of their own making, a world in which a tiny and powerless country (now also bankrupt) with the population of a midsize town is a major political player, capable of imposing its own agenda on the world stage. This may sound like the script for a political satire or a comedy show but in Cyprus it is for real and despite the catastrophes it has brought upon the country over the decades the delusions of grandeur and lack of a sense of perspective still reigns supreme. The politicians, urged on by a media suffering from the same delusions, make all types of pronouncements that are based on a series of irrational assumptions the main one being that all states are equal irrespective of their military and economic power. No matter how many times this assumption has been as a fallacy by hard facts the politicians still adhere to it, as if the world had to operate in the way they imagine rather than in the way it does.

Archbishop Makarios set the agenda when at the height of the Cold War he believed he could punish lack of US support for his brinkmanship, by strengthening relations with the Soviet Union and taking Cyprus into the Soviet-controlled Non-Aligned Movement, instead of NATO to which all guarantor countries belonged. Events of 1974 were the direct result of Makarios’ folly and his delusions of grandeur. But nothing was learned and Cypriot leaders continued to grossly overestimate their power and ability to influence events. For instance, there was the fiasco of the S300 missiles, which cost the taxpayer in excess of 200 million pounds, when then President Clerides thought he would redress the imbalance of power with Turkey by deploying ballistic missiles. They were never deployed because the Turks had threatened to take them out if they had been. The Papadopoulos presidency believed it could achieve with diplomatic means what Clerides had failed to with military means.

After deceiving our EU partners over the Annan plan, he tried to use membership of the Union to put pressure on Turkey, but achieved nothing. There are countless examples of this folly and no matter how many times we were cut down to size, politicians still labour under the illusion that they can play international power games and impose their wishes on Turkey, the EU and rest of the international community. How many times in the last year have we heard Papadopoulos junior, Omirou and Lillikas calling for a new strategy in the national problem because the talks were futile? But would a new strategy make Cyprus a bigger and more powerful country that would be able to achieve the objectives of deluded politicians? Whatever strategy we adopt Turkey would continue to have overwhelming military, economic and diplomatic superiority which are what count. It would carry on violating our EEZ, because we have no practical way of stopping its ships, and continue its military occupation of the north because we have no practical way kicking her troops out. This is the harsh reality – however unjust and unfair – that we should accept. Nor will any third country help Cyprus defend its sovereign rights as the politicians have been claiming. In the last few months the above-mentioned party leaders have been arguing that we should strengthen relations with Russia as if this would make any difference to our extremely weak position. The latest folly is the proposal to offer Russia military facilities at a time when there is a major stand-off between Moscow and the West which included our EU partners. The idea that Russia would jeopardise its trade relations with Turkey, worth tens of billions of dollars per year and the potential of selling it vast quantities of natural gas, for the sake of helping Cyprus, is as unreal as the talk of the new strategy. Our politicians need to leave the fantasy world they have been residing in before they cause even more harm to the country. The only way of avoiding future instability and cashing in on what hydrocarbon deposits we may have is by returning to the talks and reaching an agreement with the Turks. The settlement might not be as just and fair as we would like, because in the world of reality and hard facts we are in a very weak position, which we do not have the power to change either now or in the foreseeable future.

Source: TRNC Public Information Office