C
O N T E N T S
No. 88/15 14.05.15
1. Akinci
says that they want to open a new page with no pain and missing persons
2. Akinci
announces his negotiating team
3. Burcu:
The talks are expected to be intensified in the period ahead
4. Erel: We
should give Varosha tomorrow morning
5. Denktas
has reportedly decided to resign from the “government”
6.
SerdarDenktas will approve the new “regulation” of the Turkish Cypriot Football
Federation
7. Foreign
fighters from ‘90 countries’ try to pass through Turkey to join ISIL
8. Demirtas
vows to resign if HDP fails to pass the election threshold
1. Akinci
says that they want to open a new page with no pain and missing persons
Turkish Cypriot daily Kibris newspaper
(14.05.15) reports that Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci has said that the issue of missing persons is one of
Cyprus’ bleeding wounds and pages of pain and added that they want to open a
new page in which no pain and missing persons will exist.
In statements yesterday during a meeting
with Gulden PlumerKucuk, the Turkish Cypriot member of the Committee on the
Missing Persons, Akinci expressed the wish for the young generations of both
communities in Cyprus to share a better and brighter future, underlining that turning these words into something more
than a wish depends on the success of the negotiating process which will start
on Friday. Akinci pointed out to
the importance of the communities on the island adopting the results which will
be achieved on paper and developing a culture of peace.
Kucuk
briefed Akinci on the meeting of the Committee with the UN Secretary-General,
Ban Ki-moon in New York and said that Akinci’s support to the
Committee is very important. She noted that Ban Ki-moon has always been
supporting the Committee and accepts its demands. According to Kucuk, the UNSG has personally told her that he wants to
meet with Akinci.
(I/Ts.)
2. Akinci
announces his negotiating team
According to Turkish Cypriot daily Kibris (14.05.15),
the Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci announced the names of the members of
the Turkish Cypriot delegation at the talks that are due to start on Friday.
Akinci said
that in addition to himself, the delegation will include Negotiator OzdilNami,
his spokesman BarisBurcu, the self-styled foreign ministry undersecretary
ErhanErcin and the “third clerk from the foreign ministry” SertacGuven.
Akinci added that Guven's job is to take
notes and that he can be replaced but that the other names will not be
replaced; furthermore, additions can be made to the delegation depending on the
topics to be discussed as the process moves ahead.
Akinci made this announcement about his
negotiating team in reply to a reporter’s question when he met with Ms Gulden
PlumerKucuk, the Turkish Cypriot member of the Missing Persons Committee.
(DPs)
3. Burcu:
The talks are expected to be intensified in the period ahead
According to illegal Bayrak television
(online, 13.05.15), self-styled presidential spokesman BarisBurcu has said that the Cyprus talks are off to a good start and
that the negotiations process is expected to be intensified in the period
ahead.
Evaluating Monday night’s meeting between
the two leaders and the negotiations process which will officially start this
Friday at “BRT”, Burcu said that the talks start at a very good level.
“The leaders’ decision to start the
negotiations on the 15th of May shows that the pace of the process
will be intensive. The schedule and the method of the negotiations will be
jointly decided by the two leaders during their first meeting on the 15th of
May”, Burcu added.
“We have a
number of opinions and proposals on the timetable but it would not be right to
make any predictions or to share these with the press before a common agreement
is reached on the methodology”, said Burcu adding
that “as it is understood from the UN Secretary General’s Special Adviser on
Cyprus Espen Barth Eide’s statements, the
negotiations will be conducted within the framework of the main principles laid
out in the joint declaration signed between the two sides on the 11th of
February 2014.”
Burcu also
said that they aimed to form a bi-communal, bi-zonal and politically equal
federal structure that will safeguard the interests of both sides.
Expressing his happiness over the public’s
interest towards a solution, he said the people’s support for a settlement will
no doubt contribute to the success of the process.
“The world’s interest turned to Cyprus
after the election of Akinci. We can easily understand this from statements
made by Mr Eide and other foreign officials. I hope this problem will be solved
with the willingness of the two peoples and the capacity of the two leaders”,
Burcu said.
He also expressed the hope that the
courage, capacity and determination to be put forward by Akinci on the solution
of the Cyprus issue will be embraced, supported and upheld by the people.
4. Erel:
We should give Varosha tomorrow morning
Turkish Cypriot daily Afrika newspaper
(14.05.15) reports that Ali Erel,
member of the Audit Commission of Cyprus EU Association and former chairman of
the Turkish Cypriot Chamber of Commerce, has
said that the occupied fenced off city of Varosha should be returned to its
legal owners “tomorrow”.
“We should
give Varosha tomorrow morning and demand customs union”, he argued in
statements on a television program. “If you are going to comply with the UN
Security Council Resolutions, you should give Varosha”, he noted.
Arguing that the Cypriots expect a federal
solution, Erel said that the leaders of both communities should “negotiate with
Turkey side by side”.
Referring to the issue of guarantees, Erel
argued that Article 3 of the Treaty is deficient and added that if one of the sides at the negotiating
table says that “we need no guarantees” the leaders should not oppose to this.
(I/Ts.)
5. Denktas
has reportedly decided to resign from the “government”
Under the title “The government could break
down any moment”, Turkish Cypriot daily YeniBakis newspaper (14.05.15) reports
that the central executive committee of
the Democratic Party – National Forces (DP-UG) convened last night to discuss
the political developments after the recent “presidential elections” and the
future of the “coalition government” and took some “shocking decisions”.
The
chairman of the party and so-called deputy prime minister, SerdarDenktas read
out to the participants in the meeting the reasons for which he will resign
from his duties in the “government”. He
reportedly said that it is meaningless to continue being in the “government” in
such an environment. “Within this framework, I will return my duties as deputy
prime minister to prime minister OzkanYorgancioglu”, he added.
Denktas argued also that Turkey’s aid
delegation “went out of its functionality and became a part of the system”. For
many years, he said, the persons who are appointed to this position could not
show the necessary devotion and implement the necessary projects.
Denktas is expected to announce the
above-mentioned reasons later today during a press conference he will be
organizing at Merit Hotel in the occupied part of Nicosia.
(I/Ts.)
6. SerdarDenktas
will approve the new “regulation” of the Turkish Cypriot Football Federation
Turkish Cypriot daily Havadis (14.05.15)
reports that the self-styled deputy prime minister and minister of tourism,
culture and sports SerdarDenktas said that he will not block the new
“regulation” of the Turkish Cypriot Football Federation (KTFF), which has been
approved by the football clubs.
Speaking to “BRT”, Denktas said that he
will examine soon the “regulation” and then he will send it to the “office of
the chief public prosecutor” to ratify it.
Claiming that the football clubs have
approved the new “regulation”, because they were afraid of the chairman of KTFF
Hasan Sertoglu, Denktas said: “I will approve this regulation, but later the
clubs will cry a lot”.
(DPs)
7. Foreign
fighters from ‘90 countries’ try to pass through Turkey to join ISIL
Turkish daily Hurriyet Daily News (online,
14.05.15) reports that foreign fighters from “90 different countries” have
tried to pass through Turkey on their way to join the Islamic State of Iraq and
the Levant (ISIL) in Syria, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on May 12. “Turkey
is the only member of the alliance to have borders with Daesh (ISIL). This is
not a sustainable situation. It poses a significant threat to us,” he said.
The NATO Foreign Ministers meeting in the
southern province of Antalya would be an opportunity to share the issue with
the members of the alliance, Cavusoglu said, speaking at a press conference in
Antalya ahead of the gathering, which kicked off on May 13.
The threat from ISIL to the south of the
alliance’s borders would be a key issue of the two-day meeting, the Minister
said. “Once they enter our country, it
becomes very difficult to control our borders. We have to rid the region of
terrorism. For this we need determined policies,” Cavusoglu said, adding that
Turkey has put travel ban for 13,800 suspected fighters.
He welcomed a training program for moderate
Syrian opposition on Turkish territory in cooperation with the United States
but said more was needed. “This will be effective but this will not be enough
on its own and we have to take further steps,” he said, adding that measures
like air strikes were also not sufficient alone.
8. Demirtas
vows to resign if HDP fails to pass the election threshold
According to Turkish daily Hurriyet Daily
News (online, 14.05.15), Peoples’
Democratic Party (HDP) co-chair Selahattin Demirtas has vowed to resign if his
party fails to pass the 10% election threshold in the June 7 Turkey’s elections,
adding that a stronger HDP would continue to push forward in the long stagnant
Kurdish peace process.
“Our election agenda is democratic and it
offers a high standard of living for everyone. If we fail to communicate it to
the Turkish society, then that would be our fault. If the HDP fails to pass the
10% election threshold because of my failure to clearly tell the people what we
have to offer, then I would resign as co-chair of the HDP,” said Demirtas,
speaking on private news channel NTV on May 13.
Demirtas, however, voiced hope that the HDP
would get more than 10% of the ballot. “We will gain around 10.5% of the total
votes, but we must increase that amount to around 13%”, he said.
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TURKISH AFFAIRS SECTION
(DPs/
AM)
