213 countries have been seeking to contain the deadly coronavirus pandemic. Nearly all have had access to advice and experts from World Health Organisation (WHO). While the Turkish Cypriot community has a long-standing relationship with the UN, their state the Turkish Republic of North Cyprus (TRNC) remains unrecognised as a de facto (existing) rather than […]
A Turkish court has accepted charges against twenty suspects over the 2018 killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul. The decision from Istanbul’s Heavy Penal Court, on April 11, came after Turkish prosecutors presented 117-page indictment accusing 20 Saudi nationals of involvement in the gruesome murder. Among those accused are […]
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 […]
Fifty five years ago today, the United Nations (UN) Security Council passed a resolution, the ramifications of which continues to be felt decades later. Three years after the independence of Cyprus from British rule, leaders of the Greek Cypriot community initiated their notorious Akritas Plan, which aimed to overthrow the power-sharing arrangement between themselves and […]
Measures aimed at bringing Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots closer together were set in motion this week – as South Cyprus said that it had made a new discovery of natural gas. Plans to enable people in Cyprus to use their mobile phone lines on both sides of the divide will now be implemented, four […]
T-VINE talks to former Turkish Cypriot Chief Negotiator Ergün Olgun about his memories of former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who passed away on 18 August after a short illness aged 80. Annan came closer than any international political figure to resolving the decades-old Cyprus Problem, overseeing a referendum to reunite the island in 2004. One […]
The structure of the forthcoming Geneva conference was set out by a TRNC Presidential aide. Speaking on TV, Erhan Erçin explained that simultaneous discussions will be held at the summit, with Greek and Turkish Cypriots discussing governance and power sharing, the EU, economy and property issues on one table and on another, Greece, Turkey […]
Earlier this evening TRNC President Mustafa Akıncı received a call from UN Secretary-General António Guterres, inviting the Turkish Cypriot leader to attend a meeting at the UN headquarters in New York. A similar invitation has been extended to the Greek Cypriot leader Nicos Anastasiadis. According to the TRNC President’s spokesman, Mustafa Akıncı has accepted […]
On Thursday, Mustafa Akıncı and Nicos Anastasiades will meet for the first time following a row over a dinner in Istanbul, which the Greek Cypriot leader refused to attend in protest at the inclusion of his Turkish Cypriot peer at the same event. Last week, Akıncı travelled to Istanbul to attend a banquet hosted by […]
Turkey’s ambassador to London Abdurrahman Bilgiç told journalists, “Turkey is doing its share” and urged other countries to do more to relieve human suffering at a press briefing about the World Humanitarian Summit being held in Istanbul on 23-24 May. The historic event is being attended by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and over 50 heads […]
