Akıncı-Ban meeting enraged Anastasiades
It was announced that the Greek Cypriot leader Nikos Anastasiades cancelled the scheduled meeting with UN Secretary General’s Special Adviser on Cyprus Espen Barth Eide on Thursday.
Greek Cypriot leader Nikos Anastasiades left the UN summit which was hosted by Turkey with the organization of the UN right after President Akıncı attended the Monday night dinner upon the invitation from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
According to the Greek Cypriot sources, Spokesperson of the Greek Cypriot administration Nikos Hristodulidis said that Greek Cypriot leader Anastasiades cancelled his scheduled meeting with Eide on Thursday and added that there are some concerns about the leaders’ meeting scheduled to be held on Friday.
Akıncı: “Turkish Cypriot people cannot be just confined to the buffer zone”
President Mustafa Akıncı described the Greek Cypriot leader Nikos Anastasiades’ attitude that he did not attend the dinner hosted by Turkish President Recep Tayip Erdoğan at the World Humanitarian Summit in İstanbul as a meaningless and unmeasured reaction.
Emphasizing that the Turkish Cypriot people are in favour of a solution, Akıncı said that the Turkish Cypriot people will not be confined to the buffer zone in Cyprus.
Akıncı returned to the island immediately after he attended the dinner given by Turkish President Recep Tayip Erdoğan in honour of state and government leaders who attended the World Humanitarian Summit, and at which he met with the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.
Speaking at a press conference following his arrival, Akıncı made evaluations regarding his meeting with Ban Ki-moon, the dinner and Anastasiades’ protest. President Akıncı said, “It is really meaningless not to tolerate our presence there. Instead of acting reactively with emotions, we should move forward in the right direction with logic and wisdom.”
Pointing out that he did not go to İstanbul just for a dinner reception, Akıncı emphasized that he also met with the UN Secretary General.
Upon a question regarding if the scheduled leaders’ meeting will be held or not in the light of the recent developments, Akıncı said, “There is no reason that the meeting will not be held from our point of view. We will get ready for that meeting as usual and we will go to the meeting but if the meeting will not be held due to reasons beyond our control, I suppose that would be explained by the people who caused it.”
Hristodulidis: “Leaders meeting will not be held on Friday”
Spokesperson of the Greek Cypriot administration Nikos Hristodulidis stated that the meeting of Greek Cypriot Leader Nikos Anastasiades with President Mustafa Akıncı will not be held on Friday due to the events experienced in İstanbul recently.
According to the Greek Cypriot sources, in his written statement, Hristodulidis expressed that there is no suitable ground for a leaders’ meeting due to the event experienced at the UN World Humanitarian Summit in İstanbul.
Özgürgün: “Discussion on water issue is deliberate action and unnecessary”
Stating that the value of potable water arriving from Turkey is priceless and that is why the cost of the water determined as 2.30TL should not be discussed in any way Prime Minister Hüseyin Özgürgün said that the discussions are deliberate action which is unnecessary and wrong.
Speaking to Kıbrıs Genç TV, Prime Minister Özgürgün said that Economic and Financial Protocol is ready to be signed and it will be signed after Turkey’s new government takes office.
Furthermore, evaluating Anastasiades’ not attending the dinner of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in İstanbul, Özgürgün said “Anastasiades does not consider the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus as an equal side. He also considers that he negotiates with a minority at the table that is why he never wants to be seen with Akıncı at an equal platform.”
Adding that Greek Cypriot policy has been the same since the 1950’s, “Cyprus is a Helen island and Greek Cypriots rule the island. Turkish Cypriots are minority”, Özgürgün said that the Cyprus problem is continuing because Turkish Cypriots do not accept this situation. Özgürgün also stressed that Anastasiades’ not attending the dinner proved that Greek Cypriots have the same opinion as in 1950’s.
US Deputy Undersecretary Hyatt visits Cyprus
U.S. Department of Commerce Deputy Undersecretary for International Trade, Kenneth E. Hyatt, will be visiting Cyprus between May 25-26.
The Deputy Undersecretary will meet with businessmen in Cyprus on Thursday 26th May. At the meeting Hyatt will deliver a speech on U.S. commercial opportunities in Cyprus in the context of a possible settlement to members of the South Cyprus Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Turkish Cypriot Chamber of Commerce, and business leaders.
Afterwards, US Ambassador to Cyprus Kathleen Doherty, together with President of the Turkish Cypriot Chamber of Commerce Fikri Toros and the President of the South Cyprus Chamber of Commerce and Industry Phidias Pilides will deliver speeches.
A press release by the US Embassy says that the US official will also meet with undersecretary of the Greek Cypriot Administration Constantinos Petrides and representatives from American energy companies.
Anastasiades’ reaction just political theatre for domestic consumption
In its editorial the Greek Cypriot daily Cyprus Mail published today criticized the Anastasides’ reaction that he would not attend Friday’s talks with President Mustafa Akinci.
According to the editorial Anastasiades’ decision not to attend the dinner in İstanbul on Monday night for participants, hosted by President Erdogan was understandable, but declining to meet the Special Advisor and staying away from the Cyprus talks on Friday was taking things too far.
Here is the editorial: “What did he hope to achieve and who was he punishing with these unhelpful decisions? Was he engaging in theatre in order to appease the Cyprus political parties and limit their criticism of him, now there are more hardliners in parliament? If he felt he had been fooled or deceived by Barth Eide, he should have raised his grievance privately at Thursday’s meeting and not turned it into an issue for domestic consumption. This was not a sensible and mature way to conduct himself. And the same could be said about his decision not to attend Friday’s meeting, which was expected to see important decisions about the intensification of the peace talks taken.
Was this an excuse to pull out of the talks or will he change his mind by next week, in which case he would be proving correct the theory that his overreaction was a bit of political theatre for domestic consumption? In a way, he has made things difficult for himself, because he would need to offer some kind of explanation if he decides to meet Barth Eide and Akinci next week.”
National Socialist EDEK party leader under attack from within his own party
Greek Cypriot National socialist EDEK party leader Marinos Sizopoulos was left with another blow to his party on Tuesday as yet another party member resigned, bringing the tally up to three since Sunday’s parliamentary elections.
Paphos candidate Andreas Petrides, who failed to get a seat expressed his thanks to his supporters both from within the party and the public but said he had been feeling like an outsider in EDEK due to several practices the party had exercised.
He cited “for instance, vengeful behaviour from the previous leadership, particularly during the sensitive election period, which seriously undermined our political discourse.”
The two had cited the low percentage of votes their party received in the elections.
EDEK’s loss of two seats in parliament was attributed to the leadership by outgoing Limassol MP Nicos Nicolaides who issued his own condemning statement.
The party suffered “its greatest ever loss in elections since its founding” he said and it was clear people were not happy with the “new EDEK” they’ve been seeing as of late.
“Instead of acting as a leader should, with courage and humility, admit his enormous responsibilities, EDEK’s chairman is trying, like a student caught being naughty to blame others,” Nicolaides said.
The outgoing MP put the loss down to a series of mistakes such as EDEK’s rejectionist stance on the Cyprus problem and attempts to focus on how it is named rather than the content, rejecting anything with the term ‘bi-zonal, bi-communal federation’.
Additionally, Sizopoulos’ handling of the national council minutes, his clash with European and international socialist groups and association with extreme socialist parties, pushed people away from the party, Nicolaides charged.
ELAM most popular in Politikou
A total of 26 constituencies gave ELAM a double digit percentage of votes in the parliamentary elections, although the party lost ground in Paphos compared to the 2014 European Parliament elections, but gained more support in Nicosia and Limassol, stressed the newspapers in South Cyprus.
Specifically, two years ago ELAM had 27 constituencies whose votes garnered double digit percentages.
There were 16 in Paphos, 7 in Limassol, 2 in Nicosia and 2 in Larnaca.
On Sunday 22nd May, the 26 constituencies with double digit percentages were 11 in Paphos, 9 in Limassol, 5 in Nicosia and 1 in Larnaca.
The most popular area of support was the Politikou community in Nicosia, where the party chairman Christos Christou was born, where the party garnered 36.9 per cent of the votes.
On the other hand, retired Brigadier-General Yiorgos Kyriacou joins ELAM after his failed DIKO bid. Kyriacou announced on Tuesday that he is joining ELAM after he failed to be elected to the new parliament as a DIKO candidate in Sunday’s elections to the legislature. The 59-year-old blamed DIKO’s “internal mechanism” for the failure in a Facebook post, and announced his readiness to be at the disposal for the good of his country with ELAM.
Political parties to visit UNPA to mark the International Day of Peacekeepers
A gathering to honour the fallen UN peacekeepers will be held on Monday at UNFICYP headquarters in Nicosia, in the presence of Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot political party leaders and their representatives.
A UNFICYP statement said “the leaders and representatives of the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot political parties who participate in regular bi-communal meetings at Ledra Palace under the auspices of the Embassy of the Slovak Republic will visit UNFICYP HQ at the Blue Beret Camp within the UN Protected Area in Nicosia on Monday, 30 May 2016.”
During the event the political party leaders will lay wreaths during a ceremony to honour fallen peacekeepers on the occasion of the International Day of UN Peacekeepers.
There will also be a UN briefing for political parties on demining activities and statements to the press will follow.
Source: TRNC Public Information Office –
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How can you even think about peace with a people who act like spoilt children. TRNC have done so much, but ROC, are still full of hatred and attitude and not worth bothering with
Thank you for your comment Simon and there is a growing number of readers for who the penny is dropping.
What of the UN or come to that the EU? When you are owed lots of money then you have to bite the bullet until you get your money back.
Sorry I did not reply sooner, due to internet problems. I respect your reply. But I support TRNC all the way.
No problem Simon we are both on the same wave length and we support the TRNC as well.
The point I was trying to make was that unless the EU and UN accept that they are being used by the Greek Cypriots then they will not attempt to steer the peace process into more balanced waters.
A thought for you to consider.
If there was reunification then the Turkish Cypriots could find themselves contributing to the repayment of the Greek debt to the EU. If Turkey continues to give financial support to the Turkish Cypriots during the early stages of reunification then the Turkish Cypriots could be paying Turkish money to help settle the Greek debt. Wow that will be like drinking poison for some folk> 🙂