Cyprus PIO: Turkish Cypriot and Turkish Media Review, 16-01-15

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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] Ban Ki-moon will meet with Akinci and Anastasiades in Davos

[02] Hammond said that the U.K. is a "strong supporter" of the Cyprus settlement

[03] Burcu: The solution of the Cyprus problem will influence positively all fields of life

[04] Member of the newly established Technical Committee on Education made statements to Kibris

[05] Schulz: Resolution of the Cyprus issue will be "symbol of hope" for the world

[06] Kalyoncu: The water issue will be finalized soon

[07] The CTP agreed to support the "government" to overcome the water crisis with Turkey

[08] The "tourism ministry" participates in the tourism fair "Vankatiebeurs"

[09] Turkey shells ISIL positions after Istanbul attack

[10] Turkish Police detain 12 academics amid accusations by President Erdogan of "terrorist propaganda"

[11] US Ambassador Bass: PKK needs to cease its attacks and needs to stop declaring autonomy

[A] TURKISH CYPRIOT / TURKISH PRESS

[01] Ban Ki-moon will meet with Akinci and Anastasiades in Davos

In statements to the press after his meeting with the Greek Cypriot leader Nikos Anastasiades, Akinci reiterated that chapters on "Governance and Power Sharing", "Economy and EU matter" and more recently the "Property" chapters have been taken up during the last few months.

Noting that the issue of "territory" is an issue that will be solved in a meeting that the guarantor countries will also participate, Akinci explained that there is a mutual understanding on the chapter "Territory" that the names of villages, maps and percentage will be discussed at the last stage of the process. "Maps and related issues will be settled at the end of the process where we shall be shutting ourselves somewhere in order to avoid any speculation", Akinci added.

He also reiterated that the security and guarantee issue as agreed by all sides will also be taken up at the end of the process with the participation of the guarantor powers.

Noting that there are also different understandings, he said that the negotiations are focusing on how to overcome these difficulties and build bridges on these divergences. Akinci added that yesterday's meeting was very beneficial on this understanding.

Meanwhile, the paper reports that Akinci said that both leaders accepted an invitation, which came yesterday during their meeting, from the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to meet in Davos, Switzerland on the side-lines of the World Economic Forum. The meeting is scheduled to take place on Thursday the 21st of January. Finally, both leaders announced their members' lists of the Technical Committee on Education.

(DPs)

[02] Hammond said that the U.K. is a "strong supporter" of the Cyprus settlement

About Turkey's EU accession process, Hammond said: "The U.K. has always been the strongest supporter of Turkey's membership. We will continue to support Turkey's EU trajectory and we firmly believe that achieving the reforms that U.K. is proposing will make EU a better and stronger partner for Turkey. The EU needs strong relationship with Turkey. Turkey needs a strong relationship with the EU".

Commenting on the Cyprus issue, Hammond said that the U.K. is a "strong supporter" of the Cyprus settlement and added: "We are willing to do whatever we need to do to facilitate a settlement".

Cavusoglu, for his part, said: "We know that [they] need our support, meaning the support of guarantor countries, especially the U.K., Greece, and Turkey's support. Turkey keeps giving the strongest support all the time. But this time we want to see results. It is needed to reach a result."

Turkey's EU Minister Volkan Bozkir has previously said that an anticipated referendum on Cypriot reunification would likely be held in the first half of 2016.

About the freezing of bank accounts of the Turkish diplomats following a British court decision to implement a ruling made in Cyprus, Hammond said: "The courts in the U.K. are completely independent of the government. On this occasion, we have sought to intervene in this case to ensure that the court recognizes that some of the accounts that have been frozen are accounts operated by the Turkish embassy in London. So yes, we are taking action to try to resolve the situation, which is regrettable".

On this issue, Cavusoglu said: "Of course we too believe in the independence of courts and the governments shouldn't [get] involved. But there are international agreements that we are a part of and these agreements are above internal law and the courts should comply with them".

(DPs)

[03] Burcu: The solution of the Cyprus problem will influence positively all fields of life

Burcu argued that with the solution, the status of the Turkish Cypriots will experience a "revolutionary change". "We will start organizing our lives, not as the unrecognized institutions and individuals of an unrecognized state, but as institutions and individuals of a recognized state in which we are equal partners", he added.

Noting that absolutely no legislative process will be taking place by excluding the will of the Turkish Cypriots, Burcu added that he could say the same for the legal system and the executive power. "There is no principle of superiority between the laws of the founding state and the laws of the federal state", he argued describing as very important the representation of the Turkish Cypriots and their right of having a say in the legislative, executive and judicial organs of the federal state.

Replying to a question, Burcu said that it is not possible to step back from the bi-zonality and bi-communality and noted that the necessary measures will be taken for this to materialize in the everyday life.

(I/Ts.)

[04] Member of the newly established Technical Committee on Education made statements to Kibris

Samani stated that the aim of the new Committee is to bring up children and persons who will have the consciousness of a common motherland under a federal state. She also stated that efforts will be made so that things to change and contemporary programs based on EU values to be adopted in the education system of both sides. Additionally, in the framework of the confidence building measures students and teachers could meet and exchange views.

[05] Schulz: Resolution of the Cyprus issue will be "symbol of hope" for the world

Addressing the European Parliament in Brussels on Thursday, Schulz spoke about the Cyprus issue while listing EU's priorities in the New Year. "I think it's possible to achieve reunification of Cyprus and negotiation between the two groups on the island is looking very promising at the moment", he said. "We must do everything within [the] power of EU institutions to ensure we play our part in a constructive outcome", Schulz added.

"If in this crisis year, we can achieve the reunification of Cyprus, I think this is a symbol that would speak to the international community and would give everyone hope", Schulz said.

(DPs)

[06] Kalyoncu: The water issue will be finalized soon

Touching upon the issue of BESKI, he expressed the need to wait and see the developments on the issue. "Both wings of the government have carried out work on this issue. I think we will finalize it soon" he said, adding that work on drafting the 2016-2018 economic protocol was also about to be completed. The economic protocol is almost completed. However, we will give extra time to the ministries if they want to add anything to the protocol which should be finalized in a week's time. The technical delegations of the TRNC and Turkey have been discussing the issue. I think it is about to be finalized" Kalyoncu said.

[07] The CTP agreed to support the "government" to overcome the water crisis with Turkey

Taking into consideration its own sensitivities, CTP's assembly decided also the establishment of a technical water committee. The members of the assembly agreed that they are close to reaching a consensus on the issue. The technical committee will carry out the technical work in the direction of quickly overcoming the crisis with Turkey. The tendency of CTP offering support to any kind of initiative undertaken by the "government" on this issue prevailed in the assembly last night.

After the consensus within the CTP, the attention is now turned to the UBP, reports Havadis, noting that the UBP is expected to convene today and evaluate CTP's decisions.

Writing in his column in Turkish Cypriot daily Afrika (15.01.16), Mehmet Levent notes that the water issue is heading towards a solution in favor of Turkey and against the "TRNC". Levent notes that Turkey paid no attention to the establishment of BESKI Company by the "municipalities" and said that Turkey has the position "administrating this water is a serious job, you cannot do this".

"It demanded the water to be administrated by Turkey and to be formed by a method determined by Turkey", he says pointing out that Turkey insisted that the land from which the water will pass should belong to Ankara and asked for the right to control the underground water resources of the island.

Levent reports the following: "There is no agreement between the CTP and the UBP on the water issue. The UBP has in any case been submissive from the very beginning. The government wing in the CTP says one thing while the party assembly says another thing. There were some who were even seeing elections in the end. At this very moment, Tugrul Turkes comes on the scene and says 'We have no intention of spoiling the coalition in Cyprus'! That is, the issue is a matter of intention. [?] So, what else he should say?"

Finally, Turkish Cypriot daily Kibris newspaper (15.01.16) covers the issue under the title "The CTP has no intention of spoiling the government".

(I/Ts.)

[08] The "tourism ministry" participates in the tourism fair "Vankatiebeurs"

(DPs)

[09] Turkey shells ISIL positions after Istanbul attack

"About 200 ISIL militants, those detected one by one, including so-called regional-heads were neutralized (referring to killing) within the last 48 hours," Davutoglu said addressing the 8th Ambassador's conference in Ankara.

Turkish PM said that after detected that ISIL carried out the attack in Sultanahmet, Istanbul, Turkish artillery carried out more than 500 shots against ISIL positions in Syria and Iraq.

[10] Turkish Police detain 12 academics amid accusations by President Erdogan of "terrorist propaganda"

The Kocaeli Public Prosecutor's Office launched an investigation against 21 academics from Kocaeli University that signed a petition by the "Academics for Peace" initiative. The signatories of the petition, some 1,128 local and international academics and intellectuals, were labeled "poor excuses for intellectuals," by Erdogan.

Police raided the academics' houses early on Jan. 15 and detained 12 who were at their declared addresses at the time. The remaining nine will also be detained.

According to reports, the academics are being charged with violating the controversial Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code, according to which it is illegal to insult the Turkish nation, the state of the Turkish Republic or the Grand Assembly of Turkey and the state's judicial institutions. The academics are also accused of "terrorist propaganda."

In addition, Hurriyet Daily News (15.01.16) reports that Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has slammed hundreds of academics and intellectuals who called on Ankara to end military operations in southeast Turkey, urging them to condemn acts of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) instead.

"It is really very saddening that some of our academics have signed such a declaration while we are fighting terrorism. Every day we are fighting against international terror such as DAESH and against the separatist terrorist organization that kills civilians in dormitories, including a five-month-old baby. We working to secure the life and security of our citizens," Davutoglu said on Jan. 14, speaking at a technology forum.

[11] US Ambassador Bass: PKK needs to cease its attacks and needs to stop declaring autonomy

"The PKK needs to cease its attacks and it needs to stop declaring autonomy within zones or neighborhoods or regions inside Turkey. That's an attempt to change political arrangements by force, and that is something we strongly reject," Bass said regarding PKK attacks while defining the resumption of large-scale violence in the southeast as a great tragedy. "We believe strongly that the last thing the wider region needs, the last thing that Turkey needs, is more conflict," he said, and added that security forces that conduct operations should have restraint and be done with precision to avoid killing civilians and impact wider communities and civilians. "We continue to strongly urge both the PKK to stop its attacks, and the government to be ready to begin a new, or a resumed, political conversation with people across society about that important political future," Bass said.

[?]

As to whether the U.S. shares Turkey's concerns about the establishment of a Kurdish corridor in northern Syria and a potential change in regional demography, Bass said that the U.S. does not support the Democratic Union Party (PYD) or its armed Peoples' Protection Units (YPG) being the force that clears ISIL out of that remaining section of the border, displacing Arab communities in the areas and connecting the areas under its control in north central and northeastern Syria. " TURKISH AFFAIRS SECTION

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(CS / AM)

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