TRNC News Today 12th May 2015

Negotiations resume on Friday

Starting date of the new negotiation process has been determined as Friday 15 May at the meeting which lasted for 2 hours between the leaders last night.

Negotiators of both sides Özdil Nami and Andreas Mavroyannis and UN Secretary General’s Special Representative in Cyprus Lisa Buttenheim were also present at the working dinner which brought the two leaders together for the first time under the auspices of the UN Secretary General’s Special Adviser on Cyprus Espen Barth Eide. Special Adviser Espen Barth Eide made the following statement after the joint leaders’ dinner on Monday, 11 May 2015:

“Good evening.

Tonight’s dinner between the two leaders, Mr. Anastasiades and Mr. Akinci, accompanied by their negotiators, Mr. Ozdil Nami and Mr Andreas Mavroyiannis, and together with SRSG Lisa Buttenheim and myself, was conducted in a very positive atmosphere.

The two leaders developed and shared their vision for the future of Cyprus, in the spirit of the Joint Declaration of 11 February 2014. They agreed that it was important to use the momentum created, and this new opportunity to move forward without delay.

The leaders expressed their strong commitment, joint commitment, to move forward in a constructive and dedicated manner, and for that reason, they agreed to hold the first leaders’ meeting on Friday, 15 May, to go through a general exchange of views and to agree on the modalities for the structuring and frequency of the meetings.

I want to add from my side that I think this is a unique opportunity, an opportunity that will be grasped, and it is truly rewarding to work with two leaders with such a strong commitment to seeing a shared challenge that can only be solved through shared effort, to find a shared solution. I very much look forward to the continuation. As you have understood, we will start working, and working hard, already in the morning on 15 May, this coming Friday. Thank you for the attention.”

President Akıncı expressed the following in a twitter message after the meeting:

“We have come together with Anastasiades tonight. I consider that it has been a positive meeting and we have made a good start.”

Nami left his post as the Foreign Minister

Minister of Foreign Affairs Özdil Nami, who is assigned as the Turkish Cypriot Negotiator by President Mustafa Akinci, announced that he conveyed to Prime Minister Özkan Yorgancıoğlu that he asks for his resignation to be accepted. Nami used the following statement in his twitter account yesterday:

“I presented my petition in which I asked for my resignation from my duty as the Foreign Minister since September 2013. I thank everyone who contributed and mainly the personnel of the Foreign Ministry who fulfil their duties in the best way.”

Çavuşoğlu: “Turkey is one step ahead from everyone concerning a solution in Cyprus”

Turkish Foreign Affairs Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu stated that Turkey is one step ahead from everyone concerning a solution in Cyprus and wants a lasting and two-state solution. Çavuşoğlu addressed the Cyprus problem in a program on TRT Türk. Stating that the interest of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus should be protected, Çavuşoğlu pointed out that the joint statement signed in the summit organized by Greece, South Cyprus and Egypt at the end of April has no geographic, physical and legal sense. Çavuşoğlu said that the restrictions in which Turkey is not involved in the Eastern Mediterranean will have no validity and added “As we criticize the coup administration of Egypt, we find it childish that Egypt moves with Greece and South Cyprus”.

Greek Cypriot political party refused federation

Central Committee of the Greek Cypriot political party EDEK decided not to support a bi-communal, bi-zonal federation as a solution model in Cyprus problem following the meeting held yesterday. Greek Cypriot daily Simerini and other newspapers noted that the change followed in the policy concerning the solution of the Cyprus problem after the election of party leader Marinos Sizopulos has become clearer yesterday. The newspapers added that in the written statement made following the meeting, it was announced that they will not support a bi-communal, bi-zonal federation as a solution model in the Cyprus problem. The newspapers also added that some of the members of the political party disagree with this opinion.

Committee on Missing Persons meets with UN Secretary General

The members of the Committee on Missing Persons in Cyprus met with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in New York. In the meeting which is for the first time in the Committee’s history, Secretary General Ban was informed on the studies of the committee. Turkish Cypriot member of the Committee Gülden Plümer Küçük, Greek Cypriot member Netoras Nestoros and third member appointed by UN Paul-Henri Arni held some meetings in New York on 5 May. Members of the Committee also met with United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Jeffrey Feltman and Director for Europe Division of Department of Political Affairs of the UN Secretariat Elizabeth Spehar as well as some UNDP authorities.

Extraordinary Party Congress of CTP-BG will be held on the 14th of June

According to the decision of the party assembly, the extraordinary party congress of the Republican Turkish Party United Forces (CTP-BG) will be held at 10:00 at Atatürk Indoor Sports Hall on the 14th of June.

According to the written statement of CTP-BG press office, those who want to be a candidate for the general presidency and membership of the party assembly should make an application to the head office up to the end of office hours on the 14th of May.

According to the congress calendar, applications have already started as of 9th of May.

Anastasiades was alone at Red Square

It has been stated that a commemoration ceremony was held in Moscow, the capital of Russia, for those who died in the Second World War and the only leader who participated in the ceremony from the EU was the leader of the Greek Cypriot administration Nikos Anastasiades. Anastasiades laid a wreath to the monument of the “Lost Soldier” together with Putin and it was claimed that Putin thanked Anastasiades for his participation in the ceremony.

According to the news; Putin conveyed to Anastasiades that his participation as the only leader from the EU member states has a great importance and added that they are always ready to help on the Cyprus issue.

American Ambassador to Cyprus awards prizes for “Cultural Diplomacy”

American Ambassador to Cyprus John Koenig and his wife awarded the “Ambassador Cultural Diplomacy Prize” to three persons due to their extraordinary efforts in order to use music as a means of cultural communication.

According to the statement of US Ambassador Press Office; Fikri Toros, Katie Economidou and Demetra George Mustafaoğlu were awarded this prize by John Koenig and his wife.

In his speech at the prize ceremony Koenig said that these talented people made music and provided a good time for the listeners in Cyprus and in several other countries and also they especially created donations for charities through music and education in order to develop Cypriots’ life conditions.

“Dual Marriage” book will be promoted

The book entitled “Dual Marriage” written by the author Sevil Emirzade will be promoted at Eski Konak Meyhanesi between 17:00-19:00 tomorrow. The book has the characteristics of a semi-documentary folkloric play and aims to remind and conserve the customs and traditions. The play has ten scenes and some of the scenes have the feature of a short play and also the characters speak with Turkish Cypriot accent. The play is about the village life of Turkish Cypriots in the middle of the 20th century.

Our View: Hard-line parties should not attend National Council

EDEK might call itself a socialist party, but the truth is that it has always made more stock out of its nationalism and hard-line stance on the Cyprus problem than its supposedly socialist ideals. It was therefore no surprise that its newly-elected leader Marinos Sizopoulos, on Sunday, pushed the party’s central committee to adopt the position against a bi-zonal, bi-communal federation (BBF). There was no need for a vote, according to Sizopoulos, because central committee members ‘unanimously endorsed’ the contents of the speech he made on Sunday. The decision, which would be ratified by a party conference in the summer, was made a day before the date for the resumption of the talks was to be announced and more than 35 years after the two sides had agreed to work for a BBF. In those 35 years EDEK had consistently backed National Council decisions identifying this as the type of settlement the Greek Cypriot side sought. Now, under the guidance of Sizopoulos the party has discovered that BBF is ‘racist, undemocratic and against the rights of the Greek Cypriots’ and has rejected it outright. As an alternative, Sizopoulos has offered some empty rhetoric about an international conference and confronting Turkish expansionism. There seems to be competition among the so-called ‘centre’ parties over which will take the hardest line on the Cyprus talks. A few weeks ago, the Alliance of Citizens, which is opposed to the resumption of the talks, presented a new strategy the objective of which was not a ‘solution’ but ‘liberation’; it was a round-about way of rejecting BBF. DIKO has yet to renounce BBF, but has expressed reservations about the resumption of the talks. When President Anastasiades calls a National Council meeting will the leaders of EDEK and the Alliance attend? Logically, they should not as their stated objective is completely different from that of the elected president and they would have nothing positive to contribute. If EDEK rejects BBF it could only make a negative contribution to a meeting that is discussing how to achieve this. The same applies to the Alliance, which is opposed to negotiations as a way of settling the problem – how can it advise the president about the negotiations when it is opposed to them? These parties would have a destructive role at National Council meetings. If they do not have the political honesty to stay away voluntarily Anastasiades should force them to make the choice, by declaring that leaders of parties that support the objectives of his government – BBF through talks – were welcome at the National Council meeting, while the rest were not. This would be consistent with what the government spokesman said a few days ago. He said there was a strong possibility of a settlement because Anastasiades and Mustafa Akinci wanted the same thing. By this reasoning Anastasiades should not be listening to the advice of the leaders of EDEK, the Alliance and DIKO as they do not want the same thing.