2017 review
It was the year that was to bring a peace deal in Cyprus . . . but didn’t. The year when clocks weren’t supposed to go back in October . . . but did. Twelve months of increasing worry over road safety and ever-encroaching development. Concern over rising
DECADES of on-off talks designed to thrash out a peace deal for Cyprus were both “on” and “off” in 2017 before being declared finally over . . . for now.
A stop-start year for international diplomacy began in optimistic style, with President Mustafa Akıncı flying to Geneva last January for a crucial third Swiss summit in as many months, as he attempted to nail down a date for a referendum on the future of Cyprus.
The historic summit, at which both Mr Akıncı and Greek Cypriot leader Nicos Anastasiades were accompanied for the first time by the heads of their respective sides’ main political parties, concluded without a deal but with expressions of optimism and a new plan for officials to meet back on the island to tackle the thorny issue of guarantees.
January’s international conference in Geneva, hosted by then new UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, brought together the island’s leaders and the foreign ministers of its three guarantor powers, Turkey, Greece and the UK, to address the two sides’ security concerns, and with European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker and EU foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini in attendance as observers. Mr Guterres declared himself confident that all involved were determined to make a “last effort” to find a solution.
The island’s leaders also voiced optimism over proceedings, but soon found themselves under fire from their respective communities for their handling of the negotiations, in particular over the controversial secret exchange of maps, while the talks themselves were quickly thrown into fresh crisis.
While the UN envoy brokering the negotiations insisted it was still “game on”, a February meeting between the two leaders was overshadowed by Turkish Cypriot anger at a South Cyprus parliamentary decision to commemorate in schools a 1950 plebiscite on Enosis (union with Greece), and ended abruptly after an hour with both leaders claiming the other had walked out.
The drama left UN Special Envoy Espen Barth Eide — who admitted the “current climate . . . was not optimal” — shuttling between President Mustafa Akıncı and Greek Cypriot leader Nicos Anastasiades to try to bring them back to the table.
But it was not to be until April that the pair met again — only for the talks to head straight back into the choppy waters of the ongoing dispute over hydrocarbons rights and explorations off the island’s coast. The following month, Mr Eide declared that efforts at intensive shuttle diplomacy between Mr Akıncı and Mr Anastasiades were over after failing to achieve common ground needed in order to reconvene the international conference in Geneva.
The envoy said he would seek guidance from the UN SecretaryGeneral on how to proceed, and a swift dinner invitation from Mr Guterres, for the leaders to break bread with him in New York, provided the impetus for the international conference to be reconvened.
Hopes of a deal were high as the Cypriot and international teams headed back to Switzerland, this time to the resort of Crans-Montana, watched by propeace campaigners both outside the talks venue and in the buffer zone back home.
An optimistic Mr Guterres declared at the start of July that the UN was “not tired” of helping the two sides end the decades of division in Cyprus. The UN would not set a deadline for a solution because it would “create the conditions for the problem not to be solved”, he said.
Just a week later the summit had collapsed in dramatic fashion, plunging the future of the peace process into uncertainty.
Hours after a sombre Mr Guterres had declared the conference “closed” — and amid claims of heated arguments and even a threat by Mr Anastasiades to walk out of a working dinner — emotional President Akıncı told reporters both sides on the island “had lost” with the failure of 10 days of make-or-break talks. It was an opportunity that “would not come round again”, he said.
However as initial blame focused on Ankara’s refusal to countenance a “sunset clause” setting a deadline for troop withdrawal, the Turkish Cypriot leader pointed to Greek Cypriot intransigence on issues including property, territory and a rotating presidency, and declared: “It was not our suitcase that was packed ready to leave — it was the other [side’s].”
Negotiations have been on hold since then, Mr Eide quitting his role to stand successfully for election to the Norwegian parliament, Greek Cypriots gearing up for their presidential poll next month and Turkish Cypriots heading for an unexpected early general election tomorrow.
The year drew to a close with broad consensus, both in the TRNC and Ankara, that the time for open-ended negotiations on existing UN parameters is finally over; that any fresh talks must be “results-oriented” and there will need to be a “changed mentality” in the South for them to stand a chance of success. Meanwhile the dying days of the year also saw the prospect voiced that Turkey would look to press harder for international recognition of the TRNC.
ROAD safety was another issue that echoed throughout the 12 months in which 37 lives were lost on the TRNC’s highways — and two more within hours of the new year beginning.
The year began and ended with scenes of traffic chaos and long tailbacks during infrastructural work on roads in Girne, while June saw two of the north coast’s outraged mmayors demand “immediate” action on building a dual carriageway on the heavily congested Alsancak-to-Karşıyaka route — with threats that protesters would block the existing coast road for up to two days to pursue their goal.
Alsancak and Lapta’s leaders said their area was being neglected while new highways were built elsewhere, and they were joining forces in the face of traffic “hell” which they said left rush-hour commuters taking more than an hour to travel a mere 10km between Lapta and Girne. Work has since resumed on widening the route.
Elsewhere, a new network of slip roads designed to ease congestion at one of the TRNC’s busiest junctions was slammed as a “death trap” ahead of its official opening in September. The four slip roads at the Gönyeli roundabout were unveiled with a flourish by Prime Minister Hüseyin Özgürgün, Transport and Public Works Minister Kemal Dürüst and other officials, giving drivers turning left an “escape route” to avoid routine tailbacks of up to 2km during the morning and evening rush-hours. However exasperated road safety campaigners voiced fears that the new layout would put lives at risk.
Meanwhile another blackspot brought the warning in August from a senior politician to “avoid the Girne-Değirmenlik mountain road if you can”. People’s Party leader Kudret Özersay and his wife, Aliye Ummanel, issued the caution when their car was struck by a rock falling from a lorry travelling in front of them, cracking their windscreen, on the highway where five people died within the space of nine months. Writing on social media after the incident which left the couple shaken but unhurt, Dr Özersay warned that “our roads, especially the Girne mountain road, are not safe”.
Never far from the headlines, traffic safety concerns were underscored in October by the revelation that dozens of Turkish motorists were believed to have paid bribes in a racket supplying bogus TRNC licences without the need for a driving test or a compulsory course of lessons.
The alleged ring, so far thought by police to involve a senior civil servant who has now been suspended, two driving test examiners, a senior instructor and a driving school owner, came to light after police were tipped off and began an eight-month undercover investigation.
WHAT else did 2017 bring in North Cyprus? There were highs and lows for expat homeowners, positive news for mobile phone users and shocking stories emerging from the country’s foreign student community. Plus a growing call for action over violence against women following the grisly deaths of five, allegedly at the hands of current or former partners: Gamze Pehlivan and Burcu Okumuş in April; Ayşe Yalçın and Zehra Sorver in June; and Halime Çetin in October.
Here is a snapshot of some other stories that hit the Cyprus Today headlines last year:
JANUARY
BUSINESSES and homeowners entered the new year with an electric “shock” after energy bills rose by as much as 25 per cent. The hikes, imposed by the electricity board Kıb-Tek from December 21, were blamed on rising fuel costs and the fall in the value of the Turkish lira against the dollar.
A BRITISH expat mother appealed for someone to take responsibility for her two teenage children after she was taken into custody on a European Arrest Warrant for alleged child abduction while on a South Cyprus shopping trip. The 57year-old had lived with her two children in Ozanköy since April 2012 and was a frequent visitor to the South, where she was arrested in November 2016.
FEBRUARY
URGENT calls were made for the government to clarify expat residency rules after a British woman who settled in the TRNC over a decade ago with her partner was told she could no longer live here because the couple had sold their property — to pay for cancer treatment. The Yorkshire couple — who did not want to be named — said they were “shocked” when they were informed by an immigration official at Girne police station that the woman, 56, could not renew her temporary residency without a “koçan”, or title deed, because she was under 60.
A CABLE car system connecting the Karaoğlanoğlu coast to St Hilarion Castle and providing panoramic views of the island’s north coast could become a reality, according to plans revealed to Cyprus Today.
MARCH
AN INTERNATIONAL gang was believed to have used the name of a distinguished UKbased Turkish Cypriot doctor to fraudulently obtain thousands of pounds from at least a dozen victims. Dr Teoman Sırrı MBE, a GP from Gazimağusa now based in Haringey, north London, said he was “horrified” by a rising number of complaints from victims in the TRNC, London and Turkey who had received telephone calls from people using his name to collect money, allegedly for charity.
ERCAN airport staff braced for “mass confusion” as new measures came into force in line with US and British government restrictions on carrying electronic devices on flights from Turkey. The new regulations, which also affected anyone flying to the US and UK from a number of countries in the Middle East and north Africa, meant that travellers would have to put laptops, tablets, e-readers and similar-sized gadgets into their hold luggage.
The ban was lifted in August.
APRIL
PRIVATE hospitals and clinics were to come under greater scrutiny as part of a new crackdown on standards, a minister said, after three people were put behind bars for carrying out illegal abortions and secretly disposing of the remains — a case which prompted calls from MPs to raise the limit on when pregnancies can be ended.
A DAMNING European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) verdict on a 12-year-old triple murder in South Cyprus should be a wake-up call for crossborder crime-fighting, a leading lawyer signalled. Hakkı Önen, TRNC representative on the Bicommunal Technical Committee on Crime, spoke out in the wake of the ECHR judgment which slammed the governments in South Nicosia and Ankara for failing to cooperate to bring the killers of Turkish Cypriot Elmas Güzelyurtlu, his wife Zerrin and their 15-year-old daughter to justice.
DEPUTY Prime Minister Serdar Denktaş vowed to intervene after expat homeowners who faced losing their luxury villas in Esentepe made a “desperate plea” for help. An auction of 31 properties at the Olive Grove development, which had been due to take place, was postponed when lawyers obtained a court order. Owners rejoiced in May after being told that the properties would no longer go under the hammer.
MAY
FOREIGN nationals were told they could visit Akıncılar without “special permission” for the first time since the 1970s. Ministers announced that nonTRNC citizens would be able to freely enter the country’s southernmost settlement after a new road connecting the village to Ercan airport via a 550m-long tunnel was officially opened by Prime Minister Hüseyin Özgürgün.
FOREIGN drivers living or working in the TRNC would have to surrender their licences in return for Turkish Cypriot ones — or possibly take a TRNC driving test — under new rules set to be announced by the government and come into force in 2019.
SHOPPERS could be forced to pay for disposable carrier bags from 2018 in a bid to slash waste, it was revealed. Environmental Protection Department director Abdullah Aktolgalı said he was in talks with shopkeepers and supermarket owners to discuss ways to curb the usage of the bags.
EXPAT groups agreed to join forces against a British-inspired move that means all Pegasus Airlines passengers to and from Ercan airport having to leave their plane in Turkey for fresh security screening — a story broken by Cyprus Today earlier in the month.
JUNE
A BIRMINGHAM-born expat was recovering well in hospital after being stabbed five times during a row said to be over claims he had sent sensitive social media messages to the British wife of a popular Turkish restaurateur. Ramazan Acar, 26, from Esentepe and owner of Alsancak’s Amore Bar and Restaurant, was said to have confronted Richard Cadd, 50, at his Karşıyaka home over messages believed to concern himself and Mr Cadd’s wife Amanda and sent to Acar’s wife, Kirstie. Acar was jailed for seven years in October.
A DECISION not to lease a firefighting helicopter was condemned by environmentalists as “leaving the door open for catastrophe”. The government’s environment chief dismissed the prospect of the country having its own helicopter for the summer as a “waste of money” — but environmental campaigners voiced outrage at the verdict.
JULY
AN ATTEMPT was made by the Embassy of Cyprus in Berlin to dissuade more than 200 Swiss, German and Austrian musicians from performing at two charity concerts scheduled for the Salamis amphitheatre.
HOLIDAYMAKERS were turfed out of their Karpaz seaside bungalows as officials enforced 2016 court rulings on seven sites ruled guilty of having built illegally in the Karpaz Area of Special Protection. There were tearful and angry scenes as staff from the Environmental Protection Department swooped, evicting visitors including both locals and foreign tourists.
TOWN planners revealed draft regulations to a packed Girne meeting for limits on high-rise buildings and housing density. The legally required four-hour public meeting for the first and long-awaited joint Zoning and Construction Plan for Girne and Çatalköy was attended by local residents, civil society representatives and developers.
AUGUST
FRUSTRATED broadband users should take their complaints over “unreliable” connections directly to Turkey, a spokesman for the North Cyprus Internet Service Providers’ Association (KKISS) said. Olgu Tansu said companies were being unfairly accused of misleading customers because internet speeds were not as advertised, but claimed countrywide problems were caused by fluctuations in the strength of the signal received from Turkey’s TTNet via two undersea fibre optic cables.
HOMEOWNERS, including British expats, living at a development in Karşıyaka said their dream lives in the sun had turned to “hell” after their properties were snapped up at an auction. Twelve out of 20 houses on the Harmony Homes estate were sold off for a total of 3,024,100TL — 100TL above the asking price — following a 2009 court order over unpaid bank loans to landowner Fırat Yıldırım.
A POPULAR British expat couple “feared for their lives” when the TRNC taxi they were travelling in came under attack from Greek Cypriot football hooligans in South Nicosia. Bob Carnduff, 78, and wife Gill, 73, said they experienced moments of “panic” and “terror” when the vehicle was set upon by an angry mob as they were travelling back to their Ozanköy home after a flight from London to Larnaca airport.
SEPTEMBER
NORTH Cyprus was revealed to be leading the world in controversial fertility treatment, amid a boom in “health tourism” fuelled by couples desperate for a baby. A report on the BioEdge website, which specialises in “bioethics news” from around the globe, named the TRNC as the “most developed” country offering “tandem IVF”.
EDUCATION chiefs from Zimbabwe, concerned by claims that its university students in the TRNC were turning to prostitution and drug dealing after being tricked into taking bogus scholarships, were revealed to be planning a fact-finding mission to the island.
UP TO 4,000 people might have been facing paying more than they needed to for mobile phone services it emerged, after large fines were slapped on the country’s two operators. The Competition Board ordered KKTCell and Telsim to pay penalties totalling around 560,000TL after it ruled that the duopoly had “exploited their dominant position” in North Cyprus.
OCTOBER
CANCER survivors will only need to take two pills a day to stop the disease from coming back or worsening, if trials of a new treatment prove successful, a globally renowned Turkish Cypriot scientist had said. Mustafa Djamgöz, Professor of Cancer Biology at Imperial College, London, said he hoped to begin clinical trials of a non-toxic drug called Ranexa on “triplenegative” breast cancer patients in 2018 after research results proved promising.
THE air industry was bracing itself for potential “travel chaos” after the government made a surprise U-turn on its controversial decision not to put the clocks back -– meaning that the TRNC will be an hour behind Turkey for the entire winter.
BRITISH High Commissioner Matthew Kidd was under mounting pressure after a member of the House of Lords called on the UK government to take “disciplinary action” against him for saying that it would be “dangerous” for Britain to recognise the TRNC. Northern Irish peer Lord Maginnis tabled a question to Mr Kidd’s bosses at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) after being “outraged” by his comments, made at a public meeting with expats. NOVEMBER
ENVIRONMENTALISTS protested amid mounting concern that legal protection of the unspoiled Karpaz could be “dismantled” in the run-up to a January general election. Members of the North Cyprus Environmental Platform gathered to oppose planned changes to measures blocking construction in the sensitive peninsula which they say could mean “the entire coast from Dipkarpaz to Bafra is up for grabs” by developers.
THERE were hugs and tears of joy from a group of British expat property owners after they claimed victory in a near 12-year legal battle to save their homes — with the TRNC avoiding a potentially damaging European Court of Human Rights case. A landmark ruling at the Supreme Court in Lefkoşa found in favour of 14 plaintiffs who were battling to avoid eviction from eight homes on Karşıyaka’s Kulaksız 5 estate.
THE government could no longer shield motorists from the rising cost of importing fuel because of the plunging value of the Turkish lira, Deputy Prime Minister Serdar Denktaş told
Cyprus Today. He said a price hike, the first since January, was inevitable after the currency fell to new lows.
DECEMBER
A NEW system allowing mobile phone users to change provider for free, while retaining their number, is expected to fuel competition among GSM operators — a move seen by a consumers’ champion as likely to drive prices down and quality up. The new “mobile number portability”, first revealed by Cyprus Today in February, is to start on January 22. FOREIGN university students will be forced to leave the country if they fail health tests or stop studying as part of a government crackdown announced. The measures came after claims from a think-tank that some students from Africa were being subjected to sexual assault and rape — reports slammed as “sensational news” by a group representing North Cyprus universities.
GİRNE is to have a new hospital, it was confirmed, after Ankara gave the green light to ambitious plans to upgrade health care in the town. The news was given a cautious welcome by doctors’ leaders and mayor Nidai Güngördü.