TRNC News Today 2^nd September 2015

Akıncı: “There is agreement on categories but criteria is not being discussed yet”

Following the Leaders’ meeting held at the buffer zone yesterday, President Akinci made statements to the press.

Akıncı said that there was an agreement on categories of affected properties issue however he added that they did not discuss the criteria at yesterday’s meeting and the negotiators have not worked on this issue yet and works of both sides have been continuing on the issue.

Pointing to the reports in the Greek Cypriot press recently that there was agreement on the property criteria, Akinci said that these reports were misleading. He said that there was agreement on categories not on criteria. Akıncı also stressed that not every news item published in the Greek Cypriot press should be taken as being true.

Furthermore, answering a question regarding the checkpoints at Derinya and Aplic, Akinci said that the work from now on belonged to the technical committees.

Eide: “I become more hopeful every passing week”

Following his meeting with President Mustafa Akıncı, the UN Secretary General’s Special Adviser on Cyprus Espen Barth Eide said that he becomes more hopeful every passing week.

Following the Leaders’ meeting yesterday, Eide had a meeting with Akıncı which lasted about one hour and then he had a meeting with the Greek Cypriot leader Nikos Anastasiades.

Following his meeting with Akıncı, Eide said that during their yesterday’s meeting, the Leaders made evaluations regarding the last 11 meetings of the negotiators and added that he appreciates the negotiation team for their systematic works.

Furthermore, adding that during his meetings with the Leaders, they tried to determine the agenda of the following process and the issues to be discussed at the meeting to be held on 14 September, Eide said “The process is proceeding in a clear way.”

Adding that there are still some issues to be solved and his mission is to help at this stage as a good instructor, Eide expressed that a difficult process is waiting for them before reaching a settlement.

Stressing that he cannot say many things regarding the core of the negotiations, Eide said that the chapters in the negotiations were all discussed thoroughly. Eide added: “I am satisfied with the works, commitment and mutual confidence shown by the Leaders, negotiators and the negotiation team. They have common determination for solving the Cyprus problem. I become more hopeful every passing week.”

Anastasiades is cautiously optimistic

Leader of the Greek Cypriot Administration Nikos Anastasiades has replied positively to a question on whether he is cautiously optimistic after the positions put forward by the other side at yesterday’s meeting with President Mustafa Akıncı.

According to the Greek news resources, in the statement he made after the meeting Anastasiades stated that he was cautiously optimistic and mentioning the UN Statement on the matter, he avoided making any other comments.

The statement delivered by the Special Adviser of the Secretary-General on Cyprus Mr. Espen Barth Eide on behalf of the Leaders, 1st September 2015 is as follows:-

Today, the Greek Cypriot leader, Mr. Nicos Anastasiades and the Turkish Cypriot leader, Mr. Mustafa Akinci, renewed efforts to achieve their shared goal of reaching a comprehensive settlement as swiftly as possible.

The leaders reviewed the significant and substantive work done by the negotiators and their teams since their last meeting on 27 July. The negotiators met 11 times. The negotiators increased the frequency of their meetings and deepened their discussions on core issues to push forward progress both leaders want to see. They have maintained their clear focus on reaching a mutually beneficial solution for all. When necessary they have called upon the presence of members of the Working Groups of Experts, particularly on issues related to Property, the Economy and EU matters. The Working Groups of Experts have also met separately, equipped with guidance from the negotiators.

The positive and constructive dialogue between the two Leaders continues to create forward momentum. Today, they concentrated their discussion on the current state of play, and in particular on property and governance-related matters. The Leaders reaffirmed their commitment to maintain and build upon these efforts between now and their next meeting on 14 September.

The negotiators will continue to meet intensively between Leaders’ meetings in support of this endeavour. They will meet on an almost daily basis in the two weeks ahead.

Preparatory work is needed while proceeding towards a settlement

Minister of Foreign Affairs Emine Çolak stressed that changes to be brought by the European Union in the fields of economy, trade, industry and production should be discussed and that preparatory work is needed while proceeding towards a settlement.

Çolak received a delegation from Cyprus Turkish Chamber of Industry in her office yesterday.

Speaking at the reception, the President of Cyprus Turkish Chamber of Industry Ali Çıralı said that they always want to be in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and added that they want to exchange views on what can be done in order to develop the economy and increase the exports.

Furthermore, concerning the hellim issue, Çıralı said that the registration of hellim has satisfied them and that there are many works to be done to comply with some criteria on the production of hellim in the TRNC and added that they want to discuss this matter later.

On the other hand, Minister Çolak said that the TRNC has representative offices in many countries of the world and they are aware of the importance of the commercial needs of the TRNC and the Turkish Cypriots.

Expressing that upon the decision of the Council of Ministers, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has established a special group which also comprises the other Ministries, Çolak mentioned that this group aims at harmonizing the relations with the European Union.

CTP and AKEL to form a joint committee

The CTP and AKEL delegations made a joint statement to the press after their meeting at the headquarters of CTP. In the joint statement, it was stated that the Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots have been struggling to live in peace and solidarity in Cyprus for many years. The CTP and AKEL also agreed upon the establishment of a joint committee to follow the negotiation process and support the Leaders throughout this process.

The committee to be formed will follow the negotiations closely and will develop proposals in order to help the Leaders. On the other hand, the committee will inform the public in the right direction.

Two parties also called on the people of both communities to share the information they have about the missing persons with the Committee on Missing Persons in order to help them in their works.

Remains discovered behind the Prison

Excavations are continuing in different regions in order to find the missing persons in 1963-64 and 1974 events in Cyprus.

The Committee on Missing Persons announced on Tuesday that they discovered a burial site containing multiple human remains in an area near the prison in Lefkoşa.

According to the list of the missing persons, the Turkish Cypriot missing persons were all civilians and 25-28 percent were children and women. On the other hand, only 12 percent of the Greek Cypriot missing persons were children and women and 55 percent consisted of the Greek Cypriot and Greek soldiers.

13th Cyprus Theatre Festival began last night

The 13th Cyprus Theatre Festival began last night and will continue until 29 September. The festival is organized by the Nicosia Turkish Municipality and all performances will start at 21.00 hrs at the Atatürk Congress Hall at the Near East University.

Ticket Sales are available at Avenue Dereboyu http://www.mybillet.com and the price is 20 Turkish Liras for each and 140 Turkish Liras for all performances.

World Peace Day celebrated with a joint event

DEV-İŞ, KTAMS, KTOEÖS, KTÖS, BES, KOOP-SEN, PEO and the Bi-communal Peace Initiative which are members of the Federation of World Unions organized a joint event to celebrate the 1st September World Peace Day.

The Turkish Cypriot organizations convened at the Kuğulu Park before walking to the Home for Cooperation. Speeches were made by the representatives of both sides giving important messages to highlight the meaning of the day.

Human Remains Found in Noratlas Search

Human remains have been found during excavations at a military cemetery where a Greek transport aircraft carrying commandos was buried in 1974, a senior official said on Tuesday.

The Noratlas plane was shot down by friendly fire during July 1974. Authorities have been searching for the remains of Greek airborne commandos sent to South Cyprus to assist the Greek National Guard.

Fotis Fotiou, Greek Cypriot Presidential Commissioner for Greek Cypriot Humanitarian Affairs, said a number of bones have been located but did not elaborate.

He said all tests would be carried out and announcements would be made when necessary. “We are working hard so that we have the desired results soon,” he said. He declined to say whether the remains were found inside the fuselage, buried for 41 years under a mound at Makedonitissa cemetery in South Cyprus.

Fotiou said locating the bones was a significant development “and I think that everyone should at least be satisfied today.”

Work on the site is painstaking as crews have to take precautions due to the existence of explosives carried by the commandos of Greece on the ill-fated flight.

The soldiers were killed when the plane was shot down over Nicosia airport. The aircraft carried 28 commandos and four crew. Only one commando survived after he jumped out of the flaming transport plane before it crashed.

The remains of 12 others killed in the incident have been identified through DNA tests but 19 are still missing, believed to have been buried along with the aircraft’s fuselage.

The aircraft was part of a secret operation.

Thirteen – out of 15 – aircraft reached Cyprus, setting off from Crete in what many described as a suicide mission. They were carrying the Commando Battalion ‘A’ whose men helped to keep Nicosia Airport in Greek Cypriot hands before it was taken over by the United Nations.