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Category: Cyprus/TRNC

  • Pegasus adds extra Istanbul and North Cyprus flights

    Pegasus adds extra Istanbul and North Cyprus flights

    Responding to travellers’ needs as always Pegasus Airlines, renowned as Turkey’s most dynamic privately owned airline, has added additional direct flights to its schedule for summer 2011 in response to heavy demand.

    The extra flights will run between London Stansted and both Istanbul and North Cyprus starting Thursday 21 July until 6 September 2011. With Pegasus, the airline that made flying easy, there is now an even better choice of flights to choose from this summer!

    Prices start from £77.99 including taxes and charges for flights between London and Istanbul and from £107.99 including taxes and charges between London and North Cyprus. Tickets are available to book now on www.flypgs.com.

    City.Mobi

    Also in Europe today, City.Mobi is celebrating the success of its new guide to Istanbul.

    City.Mobi offers the most comprehensive mobile travel guides available, with over 800 cities in 200 countries listed. Each is developed by the City.Mobi team to combine into a single global travel directory.

    However, each city retains its own mobile identity via a dedicated domain. Already on offer are Brussels.Mobi, Paris.Mobi, Sanfrancisco.Mobi and Sydney.Mobi.

    Istanbul.Mobi is the latest in this illustrious line up, offering click to call functionality – which means no scribbling down telephone numbers.

    Most entries are also linked to websites where users can quickly access more detailed information if needed.

    Other key features include information on accommodation, restaurants, attractions, entertainment, nightlife, shopping, and transport.

    City.Mobi guides include user reviews and traveller utilities such as a translation guide, currency converter, news and local weather guide.

    via Pegasus adds extra Istanbul and North Cyprus flights | News | Breaking Travel News.

  • Turkey must answer for its crimes, says Cyprus President

    Turkey must answer for its crimes, says Cyprus President

    Turkey must answer for its crimes, says Cyprus President

    FAMAGUSTA GAZETTE

    • Wed, Jun 29, 2011

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    Turkey must answer for the crimes it has committed and continues to commit by occupying and violently dividing the island and the people of Cyprus, said here Tuesday President Christofias.

    The statement was made during the President�s eulogy at the funeral of the remains of missing person Christodoulos Kouris, delivered on his behalf by Minister of Communications and Works Erato Kozakou Markoullis.

    The Cyprus problem, President Christofias said, has many aspects resulting from the occupation and invasion of Turkey which continue – 37 years on – to afflict the people of Cyprus everyday.

    Although it would be unfair to prioritize the tragic resonance of these aspects, nevertheless the missing persons issue and particularly the unbearable pain and suffering their relatives continue to endure 37 years on due to uncertainty and questions left unanswered is in fact the most tragic aspect of the Cypriot tragedy, the President pointed out.

    President Christofias assured that the government has and continues to do its utmost in order to find what happened to all missing persons.

    He noted that for years the resolution of this humanitarian problem has remained on a standstill because Turkey, which is responsible for the disappearances, had followed and continues to follow a policy of obstruction over the issue thus perpetuating the tragedy.

    The Cyprus President said that since 2005 when the Committee on Missing Persons started an exhumations and identification of remains programme under the auspices of the UN and since the beginning of 2008 when intensive and independent exhumations by bi-communal groups of scientists started to be conducted, 184 Greek Cypriots and 58 Turkish Cypriots have been identified.

    He continued to say that although the relatives are somewhat solaced when they are at last able to bury the remains of their loved ones, their suffering will not truly be over until answers are given to the countless questions haunting them relating to the disappearance of their loved ones.

    Only Turkey possesses these answers, he pointed out, as they are documented in the archives of the Turkish army.

    President Christofias further underlined that Turkey cannot refuse to take responsibility for the crimes it has committed against a people as a whole, something for which it has been convicted by the European Court of Human Rights.

    Turkey, he noted, cannot continue to �knock on the door� of the EU whilst its hands are still stained by the blood of thousands of innocent victims of the Cypriot tragedy, including that of Christodoulos Kouris.

    �Turkey must answer for the crimes it has committed and continues to commit by occupying and violently dividing the island and the people of Cyprus�, he stressed.

    He added that �it must also answer for the crimes it continues to commit against the Turkish Cypriots themselves who have been reduced to a small and nearly extinct community due to the mass and continual influx of Turkish settlers in the areas it occupies.�

    Christodoulos Kouri was born and lived in the now occupied village of Mia Milia. When the 2nd phase of the Turkish invasion took place in August 1974 he refused to abandon his village. He was listed as missing ever since. His remains were found in 2007 and were later identified.

    Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkey invaded and occupied its northern third. As a result of the invasion, 1619 Greek-Cypriots were listed as missing, most of whom soldiers or reservists, who were captured in the battlefield.

    Among them, however, were many civilians, women and children, arrested by the Turkish invasion troops and Turkish-Cypriot paramilitary groups, within the area controlled by the Turkish army after the end of hostilities and far away from the battlefield. Many of those missing were last seen alive in the hands of the Turkish military. A further 41 cases of Greek Cypriot missing persons have been recently added to the list of missing persons. These cases concern the period between 1963-1964, when inter-communal fighting broke out but none of them has been identified yet.

    The number of Turkish Cypriot missing since 1974 and 1963/64 stands at 503.

    In his latest report on the UN peace-keeping force in Cyprus, the UN Secretary General reported that ”complete access to military areas in the north for the purposes of exhumations remains crucial. I urge the Turkish Forces to adopt a more forthcoming approach, given the humanitarian dimension of the issue”.

    via Turkey must answer for its crimes, says Cyprus President.

  • EU provides aid for Northern Cypriots

    EU provides aid for Northern Cypriots

    The EU’s latest funding package for Northern Cyprus aims to help the process of reunification, but critics argue aid in itself won’t resolve the impasse.

    By Menekse Tokyay for Southeast European Times in Istanbul – 29/06/11

    photo Turkey's EU accession negotiations have faltered over the Cyprus issue. [Reuters]
    photo Turkey's EU accession negotiations have faltered over the Cyprus issue. Reuters
    The European Commission approved 26.5m euros in funding for the Turkish Cypriot community Monday (June 27th), with the goal of promoting confidence building and reconciliation between the two parts of the divided island. Beneficiaries of the new funding will include civil society organisations, SMEs, farmers, schools and villages.

     

    In a press release, EU Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy Stefan Fuele emphasised the importance of the Commission’s activities in light of ongoing reunification talks.

    “These 26.5m euros demonstrate the continued commitment of the EU to the Turkish Cypriot community and to a Cyprus settlement,” he stated.

    But with Turkey’s EU negotiations blocked over Cyprus and the peace process slow to yield fruit, questions remain as to the effectiveness of the EU aid.

    According to Hugh Pope, director of the Turkey/Cyprus Project at the International Crisis Group, the latest tranche of EU aid reassures Turkish Cypriot hopes of one day joining the EU and prepares them for EU membership.

    “This is obviously a continuation of previous commitments, and is not in itself a reason for the talks to achieve new energy,” he told SETimes.

    In 2004, the EU committed itself to providing 259m euros in aid to Turkish Cypriots. By the end of 2010, 40% (110 euros) was spent. Prior to the latest tranche, only 1.5m euros had been approved for this year.

    “This financial support means the continuation of the EU’s commitment made after the 2004 referendum for providing 259m euros in aid for Northern Cyprus, to improve the infrastructure and enable greater foreign investment,” says Erdem Aydin, a researcher at the Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV).

    Ata Atun, a professor at Near East University in Nicosia, believes EU funding has done little to contribute to peace on the island.

    “The EU has lost colossal credibility in the eyes of Turkish Cypriots due to its decision taken after the 2004 Annan Plan, especially the non-implementation of the Green Line Regulation for seven years on the grounds of Greek objections, as well as of the Direct Trade Regulation,” Atun said.

    Distrust of the EU drains the positive impact generated by the funding, which in any case is low compared to the financial contributions made by Turkey, Atun said. He also criticised the EU for aiding specific NGOs while excluding many others.

    “This funding does not cover all of the Turkish Cypriot community, but only Turkish Cypriots who were citizens of Cyprus before 1974 and the NGOs founded by them, which offends deeply the Turkish community,” Atun explained to SETimes.

    “The majority of this aid has been spent for the salaries and the rent charges of the EU bureaucrats,” he added.

    Aydin disagrees, pointing out that 1.5m euros was approved earlier this year to fund the EU Scholarship Programme, which sends Turkish Cypriot students to study in the EU.

    “We have personally experienced that different NGOs from various tendencies benefit from this funding,” he told SETimes.

    This content was commissioned for SETimes.com.

    via EU provides aid for Northern Cypriots (SETimes.com).

  • A legitimate and legal intervention (1974) – A golden opportunity missed (2004)

    A legitimate and legal intervention (1974) – A golden opportunity missed (2004)

    The Greek and Greek Cypriot politicians still try to make an anti-Turkey propaganda and a diversion within the EU (ABhaber confirmed that yesterday). Let’s underline this: Turkey doesn’t occupy Cyprus. Turkey intervened in Cyprus in order to save the Turkish Cypriots. Last year Carl Bildt answered to some Greek politicians at the EU parliament that Turkey intervened in Cyprus because the Turkish Cypriots were being killed. And those Greeks didn’t answer, because they didn’t know what to answer. Why? Because they are so used to not facing with objective statements about the Cypriot issue.

    tsk

    Turkey’s military intervention in Cyprus was legal. Anyway, if Turkey wished it, it could have seized the whole island. But it didn’t do so. Because its aim was only to save the Turkish Cypriots.

    Therefore Turkey doesn’t occupy Cyprus (by the way, Turkey’s legal intervention happened in 1974, whereas the Greek Cypriots became illegally EU members in 2004).

    Furthermore, if the Annan peace plan was accepted by the Greek side, today the 35 000 Turkish soldiers would already have gone. Because that was written in that plan for the reunification of Cyprus, which was the solution for the peace.

    Let’s remind that that peace plan was the plan both of the United Nations and the European Union.

    But as that solution was not accepted by the Greek Cypriot side, the Turkish soldiers had to stay in Northern Cyprus.

    In other words, the Turkish troops are still in Northern Cyprus to safeguard the security of the Turkish Cypriots, because the Greek Cypriots voted “No” to the Annan peace plan in 2004.

    1974: a legitimate and legal intervention. 2004: a golden opportunity missed.

    Your sincerely,

    Cem

    PS. Besides, the behaviour of the Greek Cypriot leaders is suspicious and justifies the presence of the Turkish troops in Northern Cyprus.

    Let’s remember that some Turkish Cypriots (and a Turkish basketball team from Turkey) were recently attacked by many nationalist Greek Cypriots who acted with impunity.

    Why with impunity?

    On the one hand because the Greek Cypriot government didn’t do anything to prevent these events from occuring.

    On the other hand, because after the attack against the Turkish basketball players Mr Christofias solely said that the rushers were fools.

    What a strange statement about a racist and violent act. I mean, he didn’t condemn it. Is not that assessment suspicious? That unbelievable stance of the leader of the Greek Cypriots – who was openly against the Annan peace plan in 2004 – is revealing but also a proof that there’s a real risk for the Turkish Cypriots. The president Mr Christofias didn’t condemn the barbarian attack against the Turkish sportsmen.

    Therefore, given that Mr Christofias (following the Greek Cypriot religious leaders) once more turned out not to be reassuring, owing to the silence of the Greek Cypriot government, and owing to the recent scandalous and dangerous statements of the powerful Greek Cypriot religious leaders about Cyprus (why do they make political statements? Why do they enumerate their “demands”? Are they politicians? Well why don’t the EU parliament and the EU commission (as well as the EU media) deal with that serious problem instead of tirelessly keeping on criticising Turkey and the Turkish Cypriots? Is not the EU worried of the weight and influence of the Greek Cypriot Church in politics?), the Turkish soldiers have the legitimacy and the duty to stay in Northern Cyprus until an enduring solution is found.

    They represent the security of the Turkish Cypriots.

    PPS. The Greek Cypriot leaders and the Greek Cypriot Church see the Turkish Cypriots as second class Cypriot citizens. Due to the dangerous negative nationalism of the Greek Cypriot state, if the Turkish troops left the island that would mean deserting the Turkish Cypriots.

    via Turkey » Blog Archive » A legitimate and legal intervention (1974) – A golden opportunity missed (2004).

  • The insoluble Cyprus problem: Sad island story

    The insoluble Cyprus problem: Sad island story

    Long talks have got little nearer to solving Europe’s oldest “frozen conflict”

    Mar 31st 2011 | NICOSIA | from the print edition

    20110402 eum988GLOOM has settled over the Cyprus talks. Under a UN special envoy, Alexander Downer, the Greek-Cypriot president (Demetris Christofias) and his Turkish-Cypriot counterpart (Dervish Eroglu since March 2010), have held 100 meetings since September 2008. But politics intrudes: general elections are due in Cyprus (in May) and Turkey (June). Attention will then switch to Cyprus’s European Union presidency in 2012 and its presidential election early in 2013.

    After meeting the two leaders in Geneva in January, the UN secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon, expressed grave concern about the talks’ slow progress. Yet Mr Downer, a former Australian foreign minister, is breezily upbeat. He told an Economist Cyprus conference last month that more had been achieved than was widely realised. He noted broad agreement on such long-term issues as the structure of a federated Cyprus. The toughest disputes are all short term: property, territory and security. Yet Mr Downer says the real question is not whether a deal is possible but whether the two sides truly want one.

    And this is where pessimism kicks in. Mr Christofias baldly told the same conference that “progress has been zero since Mr Eroglu was elected.” He preferred dealing with the man whom Mr Eroglu defeated, Mehmet Ali Talat. His negotiator, George Iacovou, thinks Turkey does not want a deal at present. Most of the Greek-Cypriot media are rejectionist. Turkish-Cypriots have staged protests against Turkey, their sponsor, but these have mostly fizzled. Mr Eroglu’s negotiator, Kudret Ozersay, says that “everyone wants peace, but not everyone wants a compromise.” Without more progress, he adds, he might quit.

    The talks cannot go on for ever. Time is making them harder. Younger Cypriots have no memory of a united island and the “green line” is coming to look like permanent partition. Mr Christofias seems ready to run again in 2013 if there is a chance of a deal. But without clearer signs of progress, he could well lose—just as Mr Talat did. Is there scope for unilateral gestures? The International Crisis Group suggests several, including Turkey opening its ports to Cypriot trade, Cyprus allowing charter flights to Ercan airport in the north or a supervised return of the ghost resort of Varosha to its Greek-Cypriot owners. But in today’s bitter climate, none looks feasible.

    What if there is no deal? Many Greek-Cypriots shrug their shoulders: they are now in the EU and the euro. But Mr Downer warns those who want the talks to fail to be careful what they wish for. The economy suffers from the island’s division. And a failure to settle the Cyprus problem can only make Turkey’s strained relations with the EU worse. Sadly, there is little the EU can do about this. It is perhaps telling that the Greek for give and take is “take and give”.

    from the print edition | Europe

    via The insoluble Cyprus problem: Sad island story | The Economist.

  • Government ready to adopt zero problem relationship with Turkey

    Government ready to adopt zero problem relationship with Turkey

    By Stefanos Evripidou Published on June 15, 2011

    THE GOVERNMENT is ready to develop a “zero-problem” relationship with Turkey, and calls on Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to take the necessary steps towards a Cyprus solution following his victory in Sunday’s general elections.

    Government spokesman Stefanos Stefanou said Erdogan won a “big victory”, even if it came short of giving them a free hand in reforming the constitution.

    He said Erdogan now faced “serious problems” like the Kurdish issue, and democratic reforms which the political leadership “needs to deal with as an integral part of its EU accession course”.

    Linked with Turkey’s EU accession was the Cyprus problem, “to which Turkey should finally demonstrate a constructive approach,” said Stefanou.

    “The elections are over and Turkey must prove that it works in favour of a solution based on UN resolutions, and take the necessary actions that the European Council has called on it to do,” said Stefanou.

    “The Republic of Cyprus is ready to build a zero-problem relationship with Turkey, and have a special relationship with both Turkey and Greece. This presupposes Turkey cooperates in achieving a just, viable and functional solution on the basis of a bizonal bicommunal federation, which will restore the country’s territorial integrity and sovereignty, as well as the human rights and fundamental liberties of all people, both Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots,” he added.

    Stefanou also called on Turkey to “review the arrogant positions and policies being implemented on Turkish Cypriots”.

    Foreign Minister Marcos Kyprianou yesterday highlighted the importance of Erdogan’s next steps regarding the formation of coalitions to pass reforms as well as moves towards EU accession.

    He said if Erdogan allied with the extreme right party in Turkey, this could mean a more nationalist approach to Cyprus. At the same time, “if he wants to approach the Kurds, he may take harder steps on other issues like the Cyprus problem”.

    “Watching his first speech after the elections, we see a greater emphasis on Turkey’s leading role in the Islamic world rather than on EU issues, which shows the role he wants to play in the region, what his foreign policy priorities are,” said Kyprianou, adding that loss of interest in the country’s EU prospects was more worrying for developments in the Cyprus problem.

    President Demetris Christofias’ advisor on Turkish affairs, Nicos Moudouros yesterday highlighted that “in the last few years in Turkey, the EU’s image has been turned on its head”.

    He pointed out in 2002, Erdogan’s party was using the EU as a tool to legitimise efforts to modernise Turkey, take steps on the Cyprus problem, or even isolate the military.

    “At this moment, the truth is this tool no longer exists,” he said, adding that Turkey’s interest has shifted away from EU accession.

    With few if any accession chapters available for negotiation, due to the large number frozen, Moudouros said he expected Erdogan to take steps to rejuvenate this process.

    Meanwhile, opposition DISY leader Nicos Anastassiades took the opportunity of the Turkish elections to have a dig at the government’s policy on the Cyprus problem.

    “I have to say as long as Turkey is kept away from the dialogue, as long as we stick to and insist on the doctrine that the dialogue is supposedly Cypriot-owned, then so much will Turkey be exonerated and find ways to avoid taking on its responsibilities regarding the Cyprus problem,” he said.

    Spokesman of ruling party AKEL, Stavros Evagorou, replied: “Not true. Cypriot ownership of the talks is what acts as a bulwark against any attempt to repeat past scenarios regarding arbitration or artificial timetables, which our side does not accept.”

    via Government ready to adopt zero problem relationship with Turkey – Cyprus Mail.