Author: Eltan Halil

HP News
Nationalist-led government on the cards in North Cyprus as coalition collapses

Turkish Cypriot nationalists could take the helm of the government in North Cyprus after a fragile four-party coalition collapsed after just 15 months in office. Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) Finance Minister and Democrat Party (DP) leader Serdar Denktaş, son of the late TRNC President Rauf Denktaş, sparked the coalition’s downfall after announcing via […]

HP News
Enfield leader Çalışkan: £6 billion housing project ‘back on track’

A major regeneration programme in Enfield, North London, which will eventually see the creation of 10,000 new homes is “back on track”, the borough’s leader has said. Labour’s Nesil Çalışkan, who is of Turkish Cypriot ethnicity, made the comments after Enfield Council named Galliford Try as the developers for the first phase of the Meridian […]

HP News
Greek Cypriot Archbishop’s Easter denunciation latest in long line of insults

The head of the Greek Orthodox Church in Cyprus courted controversy when he issued an anti-gay, anti-abortion, anti-Turkey, anti-TRNC Easter message, which also condemned Greek Cypriots who went shopping in North Cyprus and used Ercan airport. The diatribe by Archbishop Chrysostomos II, which sparked a storm of protest on social media, was issued on Easter […]

HP News
North Cyprus MP’s live police rant sparks immunity debate

Calls have been made to scrap the constitutional right to immunity for MPs in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) after a deputy appeared to use his position to put pressure on the police. Bertan Zaroğlu, an MP for the Rebirth Party, seemed to invoke parliamentary immunity during a spat with a police officer […]

HP News
No way out? 15 years after Greek Cypriot voters dashed Cyprus unification hopes, why TRNC recognition is becoming the ‘default’ position

On 24 April, 2004, Turkish Cypriots voted in favour of uniting the island of Cyprus in historic referendums on what was dubbed the ‘Annan Plan’. But the United Nations blueprint for a federal solution remained just that after Greek Cypriots overwhelmingly rejected it – and were rewarded with European Union membership days later. In the […]

HP News
Turkish wrestler claims seventh European gold medal

Wrestling star Taha Akgül has claimed his seventh European gold medal – and third in a row – after a comfortable win on Wednesday in the Romanian capital of Bucharest. The 28-year-old now holds the record for the most number of European titles by a Turkish wrestler, reports said. Giant Taha Akgül, who stands 192cm […]

HP News
Minister calls on UN to put an end to “period of pretence” in Cyprus

The necessary conditions for the creation of a federal united Cyprus do not exist, Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) Foreign Affairs Minister Kudret Özersay said on Wednesday. Prof. Özersay made the comments at a major conference held at Near East University (NEU), on the outskirts of Lefkoşa, North Cyprus, organised to debate “alternative” solutions […]