Cyprus PIO: Turkish Cypriot and Turkish Media Review, 14-05-27

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From: The Republic of Cyprus Press and Information Office Server at <http://www.pio.gov.cy/>

[A] TURKISH CYPRIOT / TURKISH PRESS

[01] Ozersay to visit France for a series of high level contacts

[02] The Slovakian Foreign Minister satisfied with the participation of the Turkish Cypriots in the EP elections

[03] More reactions on the EP elections

[04] Eroglu: Even if people immigrate, they never forget their places where they used to live

[05] Siber hailed Biden's visit as positive

[06] Imam Alemdar accused the breakaway regime of showing no interest as regards the mosques in the free areas of Cyprus

[07] Illegal university to open a branch in Moldova

[08] Turkish court orders the arrest of four Israeli generals over the Mavi Marmara incident

[A] TURKISH CYPRIOT / TURKISH PRESS

[01] Ozersay to visit France for a series of high level contacts

Ozersay is expected to meet with high ranking officials from the French Foreign Ministry.

Aside of his contacts at the Ministry, Ozersay will give a lecture at the Europe-American Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday the 28th of May.

According to diplomatic sources, the fact that this visit to France, which is one of the permanent members of the UN Security Council, is happening at a critical time, increases the importance of this visit.

Same sources also emphasized that France's invitation came at a time during French company Total's application for gas exploration license in several parcels in Cyprus waters.

According to the paper, Ozersay met with the French Ambassador to Nicosia last month and discussed the European Court of Human Rights' ruling against Turkey.

Ozersay will be accompanied by the "head of political affairs" Gunes Onar and his second secretary Sonat Altuf. The Turkish Cypriot delegation is expected to return to the occupied area of the Republic of Cyprus on Thursday May 29. Ozersay will be in Cyprus for the negotiators' meeting due to take place on May 30th.

[02] The Slovakian Foreign Minister satisfied with the participation of the Turkish Cypriots in the EP elections

He went on and said: "I also heard the news on the issue of what happened [with the voting catalogue for the Turkish Cypriots] and why it happened, but at the moment it is not my duty to judge or make any statement on this issue, because I do not possess enough evidence. However, the decision is very positive from my point of view, because I see this as a confidence building measure on the way of reunifying the island".

(I/Ts.)

[03] More reactions on the EP elections

In statements yesterday, Erk claimed that the right given to the Turkish Cypriots to participate in the EP Elections is the same with the right given to the other minorities and argued: "We should not be too naive. This address issue was an effort exerted by the sovereign Greek Cypriot mentality and even the deep state in order to prevent the participation of the Turkish Cypriots in the elections. We think that this is why it was prevented".

Erk referred also to the election of the President of the EU Commission and said that his party is interested in the election of Martin Schutlz, whom he described as "our friend and comrade". He argued that Schultz's election will have a positive influence on the solution process of the Cyprus problem as he is a person who knows the problem.

Moreover, the Turkish Cypriot negotiator, Kudret Ozersay also commented on his Facebook account the EP Elections arguing: "We had experienced and seen in 2004 the extent to which everyone is European and what he is ready to share and to what extent. They have reminded it to those of us who had forgotten it during the past ten years".

Furthermore, Murat Kanatli, New Cyprus Party's (YKP) foreign relations' secretary, expressed the view that the Turkish Cypriots did not make the necessary registration procedure in order to acquire the right to vote. He noted that they tried to inform the people on the issue of the law regarding the participation of the Turkish Cypriots in the EP elections, but ruling DISY party has issued "a very bad law". He said that the YKP had made the necessary "warnings" but no one listened to them. He added:

"The public opinion has been manipulated by those who speak Turkish themselves. Both those who were in favour of the elections and those who were against it openly gave false information to the community. Some of them said that everyone would vote, some of them said that no one would vote. The lists remained in a stopgap way suspended for three days at the Republic of Cyprus' district offices and again no one was very interested about them. The legal statue worked and ended from the point of view of the Republic of Cyprus. The lists were shared with Brussels?"

Kanatli also accused AKEL of not preparing a "correct" law regarding the EP elections and DISY of passing a law for satisfying both the EU and the Greek Cypriot nationalists and of leaving it "unprotected".

Meanwhile, Ahmet Kaptan, chairman of the Turkish Cypriot so-called civil servants trade union, has argued that democracy was "seriously injured" by many Turkish Cypriots' not being able to vote in the EP elections because of the excuse of their address. In a written statement, Kaptan argued that this shows the way by which the Greek Cypriots see the Turkish Cypriots and the solution of the Cyprus problem. He said that their demand from President Anastasiades is to remove the Minister of Interior from his duties and annul the elections, if all these actions had been carried out without the President knowing anything about them. If he knew about them, he claimed, he should resign and decide the annulment of the elections. He said that the hopes for the reunification of the island have flourished, but expressed his concerns because the leaders of both communities are allegedly insincere at the negotiating table.

Furthermore, Kibris reports that the leadership of the Turkish Cypriot Primary School Teachers' Trade Union (KTOS) has stated that the right of many Turkish Cypriots to vote had been prevented and added that they will carry the issue to the Courts in the government-controlled area of Cyprus and to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). In a press conference at KTOS' premises in the occupied part of Nicosia, they invited the Turkish Cypriots who could not exercise their right to vote on Sunday to apply to the trade union for demanding their rights.

Meanwhile, Ali Erel, member of the auditing board of the EU Association and former chairman of the Turkish Cypriot Chamber of Commerce, told Kibris that there should be a separate list for the Turkish Cypriots in the EP elections and that the EP should "dictate" this to the government of the Republic of Cyprus for the two seats allocated for the Turkish Cypriots. Erel argued that the EP could make a rule on this issue, because Cyprus is a special case (sui generis). He claimed that the Greek Cypriots will not want to give the two seats to the Turkish Cypriots by their own will and alleged that in these elections they pretended that they gave the right to vote to the Turkish Cypriots, but they did not.

Moreover, columnist Mehmet Levent writes, inter alia, the following in Turkish Cypriot daily Afrika (27.05.14) under the title "What we do to ourselves, no one does it to us":

"With the chauvinist, usurping and separatist behaviour of the Greek Cypriot side [and] thanks to the unbelievable indifference of the Turkish Cypriots, the EP elections have become a total fiasco from the point of view of our community. The chance created for the first time on the issue of defending the two seats which it is said that belong to the Turkish Cypriots, but their usurpation by the Greek Cypriots is ignored for ten years was wasted! ?

Can you imagine? The Greek Cypriot side had at the beginning announced the number of our voters to be 90 thousands. However, when the law for automatically registering the Turkish Cypriots went to the Parliament, this number scared them! They reduced this number to 58,637 with unthinkable tricks and illegal formulas completely full with intrigues! ?

Only 1,890 persons out of these 58,637 could go to the ballot and vote!!! Of course, we cannot fully know the number of those who even though they went to the ballot they could not vote because they had been left outside the list. Even if we assume these were around 3,000, the number of those who went to the ballot remains close to 5,000. The rest 53,637 persons did not bother even to go to the ballot for such an important election!!! ?"

(I/Ts.)

[04] Eroglu: Even if people immigrate, they never forget their places where they used to live

He noted that the foundation will keep the culture of Limasol where they used to live alive in the "TRNC". He added that the following generations will try to continue it.

Eroglu wished a success to the foundation, claiming that conflicts have not occurred again in Cyprus. He added that they struggle at the negotiating table to establish a partnership in Cyprus.

[05] Siber hailed Biden's visit as positive

Noting that Biden did not make any concrete and clear statement regarding the issue of the fenced off town of Varosha, Siber said that however Biden said that the USA will support any compromise reached by the two leaders on the issue of Varosha.

Stating that the international community may take a catalytic task on the Cyprus settlement, Siber said: "However, the leaders of both communities are the ones who will reach a solution. The increase of confidence between the two sides will be the most powerful motivator toward a solution."

Referring to Biden's statement that Cyprus may become an energy leader in the region after the Cyprus settlement, Siber said that even if the energy sources are not taken into consideration, Cyprus can contribute great to peace to the region's countries.

Claiming that the most profitable route to transfer energy to Europe is through TUrkey, Siber said there is also the water issue, adding that in case the "south" (translator's note: refers to the Cyprus government) uses this water, then the oil and gas will contribute positive towards the solution.

Commenting also on the call by the UN Convention against Torture to the Cyprus authorities to pay compensation for the Turkish Cypriot missing persons, Siber said that the missing persons are a half century pain. Reminding that the UN continue their work on finding their remains, Siber said that they expect the Greek Cypriot side to reply positive on this UN call.

[06] Imam Alemdar accused the breakaway regime of showing no interest as regards the mosques in the free areas of Cyprus

Alemdar stated that there are currently 150 mosques registered in the Republic in papers but in reallity 110 mosques exist. From these only 8 are open and only 4 are under the responsibility of the "religious affairs committee". He said that there is no strategy and no budget by the breakaway regime for these mosques. "The TRNC abandoned the mosques in the south", he stated.

He went on and claimed that the religious ceremony held recently in occupied Famagusta was not "legal" because no permission was given by the "religious affairs committee" or the "foreign ministry".

[07] Illegal university to open a branch in Moldova

According to the paper, following the opening of higher education schools by GAU in UK, USA, Turkey and Hong Kong, the illegal university decided to open in Moldova's capital Kishinev a Moldova American University and a GAU American College.

The paper writes that this development took place after the contacts held by GAU establishing rector Serhat Akpinar with the Moldova Education Ministry and the Moldova Ambassador to Turkey. In statements Akpinar said that GAU American Moldova University will start operation in the academic year 2015-2016.

[08] Turkish court orders the arrest of four Israeli generals over the Mavi Marmara incident

The Istanbul 7th Court of Serious Crimes also decided May 26 to request an Interpol Red Notice for the arrest of former Israeli Chief of Staff, Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi, former Naval Forces Cmdr. Eliezer Alfred Marom, former Military Intelligence chief Maj. Gen. Amos Yadlinir and former Air Forces Intelligence head Brig. Gen. Avishai Levi, who are all being tried in absentia.

The court argued that an arrest warrant had become necessary for the legal procedure as the defendants had neither attended the trial nor responded to an invitation sent to them through the competent department of the Turkish Justice Ministry.

None from the Israeli embassy in Ankara was immediately available to comment.

An Israeli official, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity, described the court's decision as a "ridiculous provocation". "If this is the message that the Turks want to send to Israel, it was perfectly well understood," said the official, declining to elaborate further on what this meant for the reconciliation process.

Turkey's Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying "the judiciary process is ongoing" and "the ruling is being examined by law experts". TURKISH AFFAIRS SECTION

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