Turkey - Island Talks

Nicosia Uncut – Episode 47: Age of apolitical & discussion on unilateral CBMs in CY (30/4/2023)

Nicos Christodoulides met with Menelaos Menelaou and members of the technical committees to discuss possible initiatives.

It has been 20 years since the crossings across the division line in Cyprus started. It is clear that the existing crossings are not enough. Should we expect unilareral initiatives by the Greek Cypriot side on this? While the elections in Turkey are underway, is it possible to talk about a new era for the Cyprus problem? Depolitization of political parties, critical look to the political scene on the island, by-elections in the north, first diplomatic test of the new DISY leader and new developments in the saga of natural resources around Cyprus. Andromachi Sophocleous and Kemal Baykalli discuss…

Nicosia Uncut – Episode 46: Turkish opposition chooses the candidate to challenge Erdoğan (19/3/2023)

Election in Cyprus is over as Turkey is now on the eve of the historical election that will take place on 14 May 2023. In this episode of Nicosia Uncut, Andromachi Sophocleous and Kemal Baykallı discuss the cabinet of the newly elected Greek Cypriot president. Turkish opposition finally agreed on their candidate: CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu will be challenging Erdoğan. The mayors of Istanbul and Ankara will support his campaign together with the other opposition leaders. Back in Cyprus, DISY has elected Annita Demetriou, speaker of the House of Representatives, as the new party leader.

Nicosia Uncut – Episode 43: Sleepwalking towards destruction – civil society is resisting (17/11/2022)

Turkish Cypriots marching against 'külliye' (campus with the new palace, assembly buildings and a mosque). The banners read: No külliye but hospital and no külliye but school.

In this episode of Nicosia Uncut, Andromachi Sophocleous and Kemal Baykallı criticize the political establishments on both sides of the divide and highlight the efforts of the civil society to resist partition. Political establishments on the both sides of the divide fail to address the division of the country while the forces of status quo are deepening the divide. Civil society and citizen initiatives are working tirelessly, albeit in limited capacity, to work to bring people together across the divide. The Turkish Cypriot leadership, now fully aligned with the Turkish government, is unpleasantly consistent in their rhetoric and actions…

Nicosia Uncut – Episode 42: Presidential race with no politics (3/10/2022)

In this episode of Nicosia Uncut, Andromachi Sophocleous and Kemal Baykalli shed a critical light on the presidential race in Republic of Cyprus: seems like the political programs are not the main pillars of this elections. A rather superficial race on slogans, characters and personalities, the candidates, save for exceptions, do not offer tangible political programs to the voters. The US has lifted the arms embargo on Cyprus and this created further tensions in the area which is witnessing harsh exchanges between the politicians in Turkey and Greece. Turkey continues to exert pressure to design politics in the Turkish Cypriot political life and this creates further reactions among the opposition circles.

Nicosia Uncut – Episode 41: Battle over the records of failed talks (14/8/2022)

It is now crystal clear that solution of the Cyprus problem was actually within the reach during 2016 and 2017 summits, it took five years for the Greek Cypriot politics to question the Greek Cypriot leadership's share of responsibility in the failure. While the establishment is fighting the last ditch battle to save Anastasiades and his team from any responsibility by throwing leaked minutes one after another to support their line of interpretation, every new statement from the negotiation team members, every leaked document prove otherwise. In this episode of Nicosia Uncut, Andromachi Sophocleous and Kemal Baykallı question how the leading mainstream media organ is acting like a mouthpiece and a shield instead of carrying out their journalistic duties. While the battle over the records of failed talks is far from over, no presidential candidate seem to offer a realistic strategy on how to resume the talks to solve the Cyprus problem. On the other side of the divide Tatar is under fire, once more, for attending the ceremony of the fifth Islamic Games, taking place in Turkey, while the Turkish Cypriot athletes were not allowed to compete.

Figure It – Episode 9: Mustafa Besim unpacks Turkey’s economic protocol with the Turkish Cypriots (10/6/2022)

In this episode of Figure It, Sapienta Economics Director Fiona Mullen talks to Dr Mustafa Besim, Professor of Economics at Eastern Mediterranean University and Dean of the Faculty of Business and Economics, about the economy of northern Cyprus, in particular the latest economic and financial protocol worth around 240 million euro signed between the Turkish Cypriot administration and Turkey. What are the protocol’s strengths, what are its weaknesses and what should be the priority for Turkish Cypriot economic policy?

Nicosia Uncut – Episode 38: Turkey firms its grip on Turkish Cypriot politics (3/5/2022)

UBP leader Dr. Faiz Sucuoğlu

In this episode of Nicosia Uncut Andromachi Sophocleous and Kemal Baykallı discuss how Turkey is firming its grip in the Turkish Cypriot politics as the right-wing coalition of UBP leader Dr Faiz Sucuoğlu collapses yet again due to his apparent fall-out with cabinet members supported by Turkey's AKP leadership. True, this is not the first time Turkey is interfering in the Turkish Cypriot politics but the extend in which Turkey's AKP leadership is involved in deciding the cabinet names is rather new. In the Greek Cypriot politics, opposition AKEL is still trying to decide on its candidate as the…

Nicosia Uncut – Episode 36: War in Ukraine and the lessons for Cypriots (10/3/2022)

Difficult times for Ukraine and for the world peace in general! While Russia's attack on Ukraine continues to create a humanitarian tragedy in the heart of Europe, there are lessons for Cypriots who are living in frozen conflict on the island. In this episode of Nicosia Uncut, Andromachi Sophocleous and Kemal Baykallı discusses how the war in Ukraine must teach the Cypriots the need to end their own conflict since they have been living on a powder keg for many decades. Harsh statements by the Russian Ambassador in Nicosia, upon the decision of the Republic of Cyprus to close its airspace as this is also a common decision of the EU, created a resentment among various circles. Anastasiades government, however, is trying to go below the radar instead of taking a determined position against the Russian invasion.

Decode Cyprus – Episode 3: Drawing parallels between Ukraine and Cyprus (8/3/2022)

Two journalists from Cyprus, decode Cyprus! In this third episode, Esra Aygın & Lefteris Adilinis discuss the Cypriot reactions to the war in Ukraine, draw parallels between both countries and investigate the Russian involvement in the Cypriot politics. What are the similarities and differences between the two examples? Can we really talk about a principles approach of Russia when it comes to the Cyprus problem? What was the reaction of the Russian Ambassador to a possible NATO protection for a solution in Cyprus? Cypriots must draw their own conclusions.

Nicosia Uncut – Episode 35: RoC’s U-turn from sanctions to CBMs (17/2/2022)

Handover ceremony of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the newly-appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Ioannis Kasoulides, by the outgoing Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Nikos Christodoulides. (Photo by CNA)

Since the collapse of the talks in Crans Montana, Anastasiades government has dedicated all its foreign policy capital in isolating Turkey through various diplomatic tools. Apart from a number of regional agreements (which were highlighted with tantamount ceremonies), the Republic of Cyprus has used its EU membership to push, unsuccessfully, for European sanctions against Turkey. The Greek Cypriot mainstream media did not hesitate to portray such "glorious diplomatic victories" on their front pages, radio and TV stations were filled with strategic experts praising government's strategic steps in the international arena. It seems that all went down the drain after…