Everyone seems to agree that there is a positive atmosphere in Cyprus regarding a possible settlement since the resumption of the talks last week, and as the hopes increase everyday new scenarios for the future continue to emerge.

While the foreseen model for Cyprus during the negotiations is bi-zonal federation Politis (Cypriot daily, published in Greek) wrote that “tri-zonal” federation may be negotiated in order to “eliminate the unbalanced situation” caused by the fact that in a possible solution north would have 63 percent of the coastline of Cyprus.

According to Politis in the negotiations constitutional issues, economy and EU are among the heading that the two sides reached to convergence while property, land and guarantees remain as the challenging ones. The newspaper claims that a formula which would help the two sides come closer on the difficult issues might be on the agenda.

This formula, writes Politis, may foresee a “tri-zonal” federation where Karpas Peninsulaon the east and Erenköy on the west of the island would become two cantons forming the third zone of the federation. If this will become a reality the two constituent states would have equal rights on the two cantons.

According to the same report which the newspaper based on the information from a “source close to government” 95 percent of the Talat –Christofias convergences have been agreed upon so far including central bank, supreme court, parliament and monetary policies.

Credit: KP Daily News

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Another first for the TRNC Cricket Association when last bank holiday their ladies cricket team played!

Following an invitation from the South’s Cyprus Cricket Association a ladies team was organised to play in a ladies 6-a-side tennis ball tournament at the Cyprus University in South Nicosia.

Until the evening before when the team, put together by manager Lynn Holman, first met none of the ladies had ever played cricket and half were Turkish Cypriot and hadn’t even seen a game. An intense hour of bowling coaching with Mike Roberts and batting by Nigel Holman and the team began to see what they had let themselves in for.

The Girls’ big day arrived sooner than the North’s players wanted, with all of them regretting having agreed to give it a go and several admitting to feeling sick with worry. Another hour’s coaching in a car park on the Greek side and the ladies were as ready for action as they ever were going to be, having had almost no time to practice.

In the South, ladies cricket is very popular amongst the Indian Sub-Continent students and workers, with regular competitions. All the neutrals at the packed ground shouted for the North’s team, but their players and supporters knew it would be extremely tough.

Hale Silifkeli was appointed Captain and set about organising the bowling and batting orders by asking the nervous players who was brave enough to give it a try.

The TRNC side were first drawn to play a very fit students team Super Six. Winning the toss Hale asked them to bat and they reached 32 runs in their 5 overs. Val Maskell’s accuracy resulted in the only bowling success and she went wild when she took the North’s first ladies’ wicket in history. In reply, with little understanding of running between the wickets and against all the odds they hit 22 without loss, Cecily Waddington scoring 6 and Damla Akmandor a brilliant 12. Lynn Holman was thrilled, admitting she had imagined them being skittled for under 10.

The second match in the team’s cricketing career saw them pitched against a slightly older but much stronger side called Super Hit. Again the South batted first, this time rattling up an impressive 52 runs. Coach Holman said thanks to Mike Robert’s previous evening’s work with the ladies, their bowling was infinitely straighter than he expected. This time it was Amy Hearn who hit the stumps for the only wicket of the innings. The target was daunting and with the inning being only 5 overs, attack from the first ball was the instruction. Hale Silifkeli rapidly got 3, then aggressive hitting from Amy Hearne 14 and Nurdan Atamtürk 6, set up an unlikely last over with 16 needed and Cecily Waddington and Val Maskell at the crease. The Super Hit’s best bowler pinned them down, they tried everything, but only 2 each was scored and on the last ball Damla Akmando came in and dramatically hit her own wicket leaving the North 11 runs short.

With smiles from everyone and endless requests for photographs from the South’s student players the team headed back North, very happy and promising to have another game soon.

If ladies are interested in playing, please contact the club on Facebook by clicking here, their website by clicking here or by telephone: 0533 8248999 and email nigel@nigelholman.com

Credit: Kibris News

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President Dervis Eroglu formally handed over the presidency to newly elected President Mustafa Akinci in a ceremony at the presidential palace on Thursday evening.

The event took place in front of former president Mehmet Ali Talat, Speaker of the Assembly Sibel Siber and Turkey’s Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc and other dignitaries.

Eroglu congratulated Akinci and wished him success in in the next five years.

Akinci thanked the outgoing president and his predecessors for their efforts to solve the Cyprus issue and said that the status quo could not be maintained.

He said that solution-oriented politics would bring results, peace and stability to the whole region.

Credit: Lgcnews

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A statement issued by Turkish Cypriot negotiator, Ergun Olgun following a meeting with UN Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on Cyprus, Espen Barth Eide said that the Turkish Cypriot side hopes to hold a referendum by the end of 2015.

Olgun argued that there is an urgent need for a solution because of the situation on the island and the surrounding region. He added that this is valid for the Greek Cypriot side as well and both sides should pull together to reach that target.

Olgun said that the Turkish Cypriot side agrees with Eide’s statement that 2015 will be a critical year and added that the date of the resumption of the talks depends on how prepared the next president of the TRNC will be. Noting that some candidates are more prepared than others, Olgun said that the date is flexible and that this will be determined according to the results of the elections. “There will be a period during which the person who will be elected and his team will sit and prepare themselves”, he added, pointing out that Eide will undertake an initiative in this direction after the 19th April election, to determine a date to resume the talks, with the agreement of both sides.

Commenting on the criticisms of Eide by the Greek Cypriot side because of some of his statements, Olgun said that Eide has undertaken the role to facilitate the achievement of a bi-zonal, federal partnership and that the necessary conditions should be created for this. He argued that this is a process which could advance by protecting the rights of both sides.

He added: “And there is a responsibility given to Eide for this. It is not right to criticise him because he is doing this. How will we prepare for the future if we look at the issues unilaterally? The preparation for the future could happen with political equality. I believe that those who criticise Eide for this reason are circles which are trying to protect the status quo”.

*Kibris Gazetesi

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The Greek Cypriot government has formed an Ad Hoc House Committee to examine the reasons for the demise of Cyprus Airways (CY). The national carrier was declared bankrupt on 9th January.

The inquiry will cover Cyprus Airway’s history from the 1980’s onwards.

An initial meeting was held on Friday by the Committee, which was formed at the end of January, to deal with procedural issues. Documents and archives will then be scrutinised.

Ministers, technical advisers, other civil servants and CY board members will be invited to participate in the investigations.

*LGC News

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Passengers holding tickets issued by Cyprus Airways, which is now in liquidation will be issued with new tickets until 28th February, the South Cyprus government has announced, noting that no tickets will be settled following that date.

An official press release issued notes that holders of CyAir tickets should apply to the company to verify that their tickets have not been used and then contact any licensed Cypriot Tour Operator to replace the tickets issued by CyAir.

Customers will be served provided that they have not applied for a refund.

Credit: Famagusta Gazette

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Turkish Cypriot education unions have gained the right to be equally represented at the European Trade Union Committee for Education (ETUCE), ‘Kibris Postasi’ reports.

Following years of opposition by the Greek Cypriots against the representation of Turkish Cypriot education unions, it has now been decided that there will be equal and rotating representation between the unions on both sides.

KTOEOS union head Sener Elcil said that this was an historic event and that the rotating representation will begin in March after ETUCE meets in Brussels.

He noted that the union had been campaigning for this outcome since the year 2000.

Credit: North Cyprus News

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The website of Cyprus Airways has finally been taken offline, and replaced with a letter from the airline to passengers.

In the one-page letter – published in both Greek and English - the company warmly thanks the millions of passengers who flew with them over the years “for their choice and support.”

“Special thanks are also expressed to the staff of the airline as well as its associates, whose professionalism and dedication were always at the service of the passengers.

“We are extremely honoured to have made a valuable contribution, over the last 68 years, to the development of the economy of Cyprus and its tourism industry in particular. We have flown the flag of our country worldwide with pride,” the letter stated.

Cyprus Airways closed on Friday after the European Commission ruled on that €102m in government support given to the airline in 2012 and 2013 constituted illegal state aid.

Soon after the government announced the "immediate termination of the flight program" and made alternative arrangements for affected passengers.

An administrator will be appointed for the airline.

PS: the website www.cyprusair.com is still offline at the time of filing this report.

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Health services of Cyprus were set on alert after information that an Austrian Airlines’ aircraft that landed at the Larnaca airport had a passenger on board who may have been infected by the fatal Ebola virus.

Cypriot Health Ministry announced that a man on board a flight from Vienna to Cyprus was examined upon his arrival in Larnaca and had no fever, contrary to earlier reports. Although, according to latest information, the suspected infected passenger is currently on a US monitoring program for possible Ebola infection.

Cypriot state authorities informed the US about the possible case when the Israeli national was en route and therefore, upon its arrival in Cyprus, the aircraft was immediately subjected to the Health Ministry’s plan designed for the prevention of an Ebola outbreak.

As the flight’s passengers revealed, no one informed them regarding the possible threat and they found out only when told by Cypriot media. “We were not even informed while at the airport, waiting for our luggage. The plane parked far away and someone came and brought us some forms to fill our data. We were even told that it is a procedural matter. After half an hour, we were released to go get our luggage. Again, no one informed us,” a passenger said to Cypriot news network.

The Israeli national was put under observation by US authorities some 21 days ago after a recent trip to an unnamed African country in which Ebola infection is high.

Since last year, there have been several Ebola outbreak fears in Cyprus, although none of those examined resulted positive for the disease. It should be noted that the island has fully complied with World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations concerning the fatal virus and its action plan to address the disease is ready to be activated when necessary.

Regarding the latest case, the Health Minister said that the man has requested to fly back to Vienna as he did not want to be placed in quarantine in Cyprus.

Credit: TGR

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AN UNUSUAL football match took place on Tuesday in the capital, Nicosia with players from both the Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities taking part.

Organised by the British High Commission, the match commemorated 100 years since the World War One Christmas truce.

Under the slogan "Football Remembers” Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots braved the rainy weather and joined forces against an "international” team made up mainly of UN personnel, at a football pitch in the buffer zone, close to the Ledra Palace check point.

The Cypriot team consisted of Greek and Turkish Cypriot negotiators Andreas Mavroyiannis and Ergun Olgun, Semsi Oyuncu, Hasan Sencar, Sertac Yalcin, Huseyin Ekmekci, Ibrahim Diran, Michael Seraphim, Andreas Koulendis, Lambros Lambrou, Mustafa Zurnacilar, Kemal Koseoglu, Huseyin Ercen, Mehmet Kandilli, Halil Cimendag and Ertan Aligullu.

Several thousand events have been held across the UK and in some foreign locations to mark the Christmas truce football match as part of Football Remembers Week.

Every team in the Premier League and Football League have marked the centenary of World War One at recent matches.

Credit: Famagusta Gazette

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Let’s talk a bit about Cyprus and all it’s weirdness (…or not). I’ll tell you something about them, nobody ever told them that staring is rude. When I was a kid, it was received wisdom that openly staring at odd balls, weirdoes, crazies, and sick people was a NO NO. It’s a fact of life that has allowed me to get as far as I have in modern society.

Cypriots are completely unaware of this simple rule. In fact, I suspect that young Cypriots are sent to special staring schools where they learn to gawp intently at anything out of the ordinary. If staring were an Olympic sport, the Cypriots would be legendary.

You’re catching on to my general point here. THEY LIKE TO STARE. Apparently shuffling down the road at a snail’s pace is well within the legitimate grounds for Cypriot-style staring. On every normal day, as I wend my way to the shops, you're bound to see people fetching chairs out from their flats and settling down to a protracted staring session.

I’ve noticed this predilection before, I must admit. When I first came to Cyprus, speaking English in public would cause people to fix their gaze on you as if they expected you to start eating your own leg at any moment. Recently, on the way to a wedding in a Cypriot village, one woman almost broke her neck in her efforts to stare into the car I was traveling in.

I swear, the other day I saw a blind girl who had been provided with a dog that was specially trained to do her staring for her. The hound fixed me with a beady gaze, its head tilted to one side, as its mistress casually wondered into the path of an oncoming pedestrian. Now, how fcuked up is that???

And if that’s not enough, I’ve got some real WEIRD neighbors (a couple in their mid thirties, don’t know whether they’re married, haven’t seen any kid(s) around). They moved in some few weeks back. Ok, in my building, there are six flats. I hardly know any of the people living here, I say “hi” when I pass them, but I wouldn’t be able to pick them out of a line-up.

But the weirdest thing has just started occurring from my new neighbors. I don’t know who does it, but they ring the door bell before unlocking their own door. That’s right; they come home, ring the bell, with the key in hand, and unlock 10 seconds after ringing. And they seem to get out a lot because it’s almost a constant ringing and unlocking. It’s just weird.

On a another note, winter is almost upon us. I wish……I wish to cuddle somewhere warm...if I say that three times, will my wish come true?

 *written by K*SH!

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