TRNC News Today 3^rd December 2015

Kerry to arrive in Cyprus today

US Secretary of State John Kerry will arrive in Cyprus today. Kerry will start his one day official visit in the afternoon and will meet with President Mustafa Akıncı. After meeting with Akıncı, Kerry will watch a basketball match of “Peace Players” at Ledra Palace.

Kerry will also make a press statement at the Fulbright Centre in the buffer zone and then have a meeting with President Akıncı and Greek Cypriot leader Anastasiades at the residence of the UN Secretary General’s Special Representative in Cyprus and Head of the UN Mission, Lisa Buttenheim, during dinner.

Before meeting with Akıncı, Kerry will be received by the Greek Cypriot Leader Nikos Anastasiades and have talks with the Foreign Minister of the Greek Cypriot Administration Ioannis Kasoulides separately.

Kerry is expected to leave the island tonight.

US Vice President Joe Biden also visited the island last year on 22 May.

Lavrov: “The solution should emerge by the agreement between the two communities”

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov who is holding contacts in South Cyprus, has expressed Russia’s support for the solution efforts related to the Cyprus problem which is based on the UN Security Council resolution provisions. Lavrov said that the solution should emerge with the mutual agreement between the two communities.

Within the context of his South Cyprus visit, Lavrov met with the Greek Cypriot Foreign Minister Yoannis Kasulidis after his meeting with the Greek Cypriot leader Nikos Anastasiades and then he held a joint press conference.

Speaking at the joint press conference, Lavrov said that “efforts for imposing artificial timetables for the Cyprus problem will not be efficient.” Lavrov also expressed that the UN Security Council will continue its efforts for a truly viable solution in the Cyprus issue.

Upon a question on the views of Russia about the guarantee issue, Lavrov expressed that making decisions on this issue belongs to Cyprus, and the solution should assure the country’s security on a new basis.

UK starts to bomb Syria

UK conducted its first airstrike to bomb DAEŞ in Syria after the approval of the memorandum in Parliament.

According to the statement made by the UK Ministry of Defense, the first airstrike over Syria was conducted. The Royal Air Force used their air base in South Cyprus. 4 Tornado Jets which belong to the Royal Air Force took off from the air base in South Cyprus and 2 of them bombed DAEŞ targets in Syria. The 4 jets returned at 03:00 to the airbase after the airstrike.

The Ministry of Defense is expected to make a statement regarding the bombed targets today. The UK has 8 Tornado jets at its airbase in South Cyprus and is expected to increase the number of its fleet with the enlargement of the operation on Syria.

The UK Parliament, yesterday evening approved the memorandum for the UK’s participation in the airstrike of the international coalition against DAEŞ in Syria.

The UK Parliament’s sub-division organized a session at the House of Commons which lasted for 11 hours and in the voting after the session, 397 MPs approved the memorandum while 223 MPs voted against.

TDP becomes Socialist International member officially

The Communal Democracy Party (TDP) has become an official member of the Socialist International. TDP’s membership has been approved unanimously at the Socialist International’s meeting held in Angola last week.

TDP Leader Cemal Özyiğit qualified TDP’s membership as a very important historical development.

Noting that TDP’s membership has started from the ‘consultative status’ not from the ‘observer status’, Özyiğit stressed that this situation has a separate importance.

EDEK and Environmentalists want Russian Army

EDEK and Ecologists and Environmentalists Movement called to the Greek Cypriot government to provide military convenience to Russia.

Greek Cypriot daily Politis newspaper stated that EDEK started a survey about this subject on its own website, on the other hand, environmentalists suggested providing ease of use of the airports and ports in South Cyprus to Russian aircraft, ships and Special Forces, and ‘defence protection’ and ‘saving the country if the conditions are available’ were suggested in return.

Greek Cypriot daily Politis newspaper indicated that ‘war with Russian participation’ is proposed by the Environmentalists Secretary-General Yorgos Perdikis and commented that this proposal creates a contradiction in terms of ideology for an environmentalist party.

Article series against Eide

Greek Cypriot daily Simerini newspaper has launched a series of articles against the UN Secretary General’s Special Adviser on Cyprus, Espen Barth Eide accusing him of being biased.

In yesterday’s episode which is entitled “Eide and Security of the Republic of Cyprus, Connections of Norwegian Diplomat and their Effects on the Cyprus Problem”, the newspaper claimed that Eide should act according to impartiality principles in his duty as Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on Cyprus, however he exceeded his authority limits.

Total requested the renewal of the contract relevant to the 11th parcel

French Total Company officially applied to the Greek Cypriot Administration in order to renew the contract related to the 11th parcel in the Greek Cypriot “Exclusive Economic Zone” (MEB).

The Greek Cypriot daily Politis announced that with the renewal of the contract, the company will lose 25 percent of the 11th parcel but it will continue to stay in the Greek Cypriot Exclusive Economic Zone for at least two more years.

The newspaper also wrote that the company has found a target to drill and drilling was planned for autumn 2016 and the company informed the Energy Ministry with a letter about their application for the renewal of the contract related to the 11th parcel last Monday.