Anastasiades - Island Talks

Nicosia Uncut – Episode 20: EU Council conclusions, US-TR relations, carrots & sticks (27/3/2021)

Podcasting from both sides of the divide in Nicosia-Cyprus, Andromachi Sophocleous & Kemal Baykallı are producing the popular politics podcast - Nicosia Uncut. In this episode, they discuss the conclusions of the latest EU Council meeting and provide a background in the global and regional politics. While the new US Administration is trying to restore the American foreign policy around containing Russia, Turkish-American relations are likely to face various tests including the one in the East Med. Europeans are still lacking a coherent and unified foreign policy, a gap that might be filled by post-Trump USA. Cyprus, however, is still a chip in the bigger game. As the date for the informal 5+1 summit on Cyprus is fast approaching, Nicosia Uncut producers discuss various scenarios for the meeting that will take place between 27-29 April in Geneva.

Buffering – Episode 11: Silently going crazy (23/2/2021)

Cypriot journalists Esra Aygın and Yiorgos Kakouris, living and working in Lisbon and Brussels respectively, are bringing you dispatches from the alternate Cypriot universe. This week they are helping you to understand the latest street protests against the government and police brutality to the south of the division line and how power struggles within the leading right-wing Turkish Cypriot political party are affecting the domestic politics, leading to changes in the cabinet in the north.

Buffering – Episode 10: This is it. We solved it. (12/2/2021)

Buffering hosts are coming up with some creative ideas on how to solve the Cyprus problem. One idea has something to do with the famous Buffer Zone of Cyprus - no wonder the podcast is called "buffering" Buffering podcast is brought to you by Yiorgos Kakouris and Esra Aygın, two Cypriot journalists who live and work in Brussels and Lisbon respectively.

Nicosia Uncut – Episode 18: Could constructive ambiguity save or ruin the day? (9/2/2021)

Andromachi Sophocleous and Kemal Baykallı discuss Cyprus problem ahead of the informal 5+1 conference: expected strategy, basic assumptions, diplomatic leaks, involvement of the internationals, and how corruption is affecting the course of the peace process in Cyprus. Before 2004, the Cyprus solution process was mainly driven by the international community. Following the rejection of the Annan Plan, so-called "Cypriot-led process" was the name the game. Failure in Crans Montana effectively ended this period. Now, the international community and non-Cypriot actors are once more the main actors in the solution process. In order to converge positions, "constructive ambiguity" is employed…

Buffering – Episode 9: Trump when it’s no longer in fashion (4/2/2021)

Cypriot journalists Yiorgos Kakouris and Esra Aygın are bringing you dispatches from the alternate Cypriot universe. Trumpization of Cypriot politicians and public figures, Freudian comparison of temples' sizes, attack on journalists and media, arbitrary destruction of historical Nicosia house, never-ending Cyprus talks, and good old corruption in the island of Aphrodite.