TRNC News Today 29th September 2015

Minister Çolak to visit New York

Foreign Minister Emine Çolak is going to New York in order to hold a series of contacts within the framework of the 70th Session of the UN General Assembly tomorrow.

Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Dr. Erhan Erçin and General Director of the Foreign Affairs Office Kemal Köprülü will accompany Minister Çolak during her contacts in New York.

Akıncı will meet with Ban and Kerry

President Mustafa Akıncı who went to New York in order to hold contacts within the framework of the 70th Session of the UN General Assembly will come together with the U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Thursday 1st of October, and the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon on Friday 2nd of October.

President Akıncı is being accompanied by his wife Meral Akıncı, Turkish Cypriot Negotiator Özdil Nami, Presidential Spokesperson Barış Burcu, Private Secretary Cenk Gürçağ, Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Erhan Erçin and a member of the negotiating team Sertaç Güven.

Commemorating EOKA in New York

Greek Cypriots living in the USA commemorated 60th anniversary of armed attacks of EOKA (1955-59) with the participation of the leader of the Greek Cypriot Administration Nikos Anastasiades who was in New York in connection with the UN General Assembly.

According to the Greek Cypriot Daily newspaper Simerini, Anastasiaides, who made the closing speech at the event which was attended by a group of supporters of EOKA, said: “We will fight for honouring those people who sacrificed their lives for giving freedom to our country.”

First stage of excavation work behind the Central Prison has been completed

The Committee on Missing Persons which has been conducting excavation work behind the Central Prison in Lefkoşa has announced that the remains of 20 Greek Cypriots have been found in the first stage of excavations.

According to the information given by the Deputy Turkish Cypriot Member of the Committee on Missing Persons, the second stage of excavations will restart in the coming days.

It was also stated that works to determine the identities of the remains are expected to be completed within the next year.

The corpses of around 40-50 Greek Cypriots who died during the conflicts in 1974 were brought in vehicles to the Ledra Palace Gate and tried to be given to the Greek Cypriot authorities through the UN but when they refused to accept the corpses, they were buried behind the Central Prison in Lefkoşa.

According to the list of the missing persons, all the missing Turkish Cypriots were civilian and 25-28% of them were women and children, however 12% of the missing Greek Cypriots were women and children and 55% of them were Greek and Greek Cypriot soldiers.

Çağlar to participate in the meeting of Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe

CTP-BG Güzelyurt deputy Mehmet Çağlar will attend the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe Autumn Period General Assembly meeting which will be held in Strasbourg, France.

According to the statement from the Assembly, Çağlar will attend the meeting which begins today and will continue until October 2nd. Çağlar will return to the TRNC on October 3rd.

Beşparmak Think Tank Group: “Presence of the Turkish military should be sustained in the new structure”

Beşparmak Think Tank Group stated that presence of the Turkish military in Cyprus should be sustained in the new potential federal structure without changing the essence of the effective and actual guarantee and alliance system and without completely removing the presence of the Turkish military.

Indicating that Turkey’s full and effective guarantee is “indispensable” for the Turkish Cypriot people, Beşparmak Think Tank Group stated that in order to maintain the quality and effectiveness of guarantees, alongside the “Guarantee Agreement”, the continuation of the Alliance Agreement, which allows deployment of the Turkish troops on the island, is also essential.

Greek Cypriots conduct a religious ceremony in Büyükkonuk

Greek Cypriots conducted a religious ceremony at Ayios Afksentios Church in Büyükkonuk (Komi Kebir) last Saturday for the first time after 41 years. Approximately 500 people attended the religious ceremony.

The church was renovated by the Technical Committee on Cultural Heritage and was opened for worship in July.

Ban Ki-moon remains committed to facilitating a Cyprus solution

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon reiterates his commitment to facilitating a Cyprus solution in his report on the work of the organization which was made public yesterday.

The report includes a reference on the Cyprus issue in which Ban stresses that “I continue to be personally committed to facilitating a comprehensive settlement of the Cyprus issue, where fully-fledged negotiations facilitated by my Special Adviser, resumed in May 2015”.