Turkey - Island Talks

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…

Buffering – Episode 13: The times, they are dark! (12/2/2022)

Yiorgos Kakouris and Esra Aygın, two Cypriot journalists living and working abroad bring the dispatches from the alternate Cypriot universe! In this episode they discussed the assassination of a Turkish Cypriot businessman who is alleged to have dark connections in and outside Cyprus. Also, they shed a light on the latest situation in the famous camp where many immigrants are held behind fences by the authorities.

Nicosia Uncut – Episode 34: Cyprus: The land of pipe dreams (14/1/2022)

Cyprus is the land of impossible fantasies. One side thinks that the international community is now ready to accept a "two-state solution" in Cyprus, the other tries to play a global chess-game with a non-feasible, unrealistic "East Med Pipeline Project", something which was doomed to fail from the beginning. In this episode of Nicosia Uncut, Andromachi Sophocleous and Kemal Baykalli discuss how the East Med Pipeline Project has falsely been promoted as a diplomatic success story for the internal consumption by the Greek Cypriot politicians. In the local scene, we have the elections mood in the air: The Turkish…

Nicosia Uncut – Episode 33: TCs hit by currency, RoC’s illusions on EU sanctions collapsed (20/12/2021)

The Turkish Cypriot economy is badly hit following the meltdown of the Turkish lira. Being an import oriented economy based on services, economy in the north was already fragile due to the pandemic. The depreciation of the Turkish lira affected northern part of the island even more than Turkey since the slider at the volume of trade is almost maxed on the import side, whereas the Turkish Cypriot exports are almost non-existent. In this episode of Nicosia Uncut, Andromachi Sophocleous and Kemal Baykallı also talk about the EU's Green Line Regulation which regulates the crossing of people, goods and…

Nicosia Uncut – Episode 32: Cyprus problem: What do the leaked UN minutes tell us? (3/12/2021)

In this special episode of Nicosia Uncut, Andromachi Sophocleous and Kemal Baykallı discuss and analyse the content, context and the implications of the leaked UN minutes with the delegations on the last day (6 July 2017) of the Cyprus conference in Crans Montana which ended without any agreement. Also known as "Crash Montana", the failure effectively ended the efforts to find a solution to the Cyprus problem, leading to a blame game between the sides since then. The leaked UN minutes, as collected on this episode page - www.islandtalks.fm , demonstrated how the chapter on security and guarantees was the main source of disagreement in an environment heavily fortified with mistrust. The leaked documents also shed some light on the role of the UN and the EU in the latest talks.