The UN has today, submitted a document with the convergences and divergences that have ensued during the negotiations on the Cyprus problem, held between 2008-2012, South Cyprus government spokesman, Stylianides says.

The document, he added, “was submitted to the President of the Republic, after his request during the last meeting he had” with UN Special Envoy for Cyprus, Alexander Downer,”  he further clarified that the document will be given to the all political party leaders for their information.

Earlier today, United Cyprus leader Izet Izcan said a document was given to TRNC President Dervis Eroglu regarding the Cyprus solution.

Izcan told reporters, after a meeting today with left wing AKEL General Secretary Andros Kyprianou, that the UN had presented President Eroglu with a 70 page document on a solution to the Cyprus issue

He said that the document is being translated and he was not aware if a similar document was submitted to the Greek Cypriot side and President Anastasiades or if the Greek Cypriot side has any knowledge of the issue.

Speaking through an interpreter, Izcan said there is currently a procedure underway on the Cyprus issue with the participation of the EU, the UN and even NATO, but the people of Cyprus are excluded.

For this reason, he added, the forces that are in favour of a solution should be mobilized for peace, reunification and for the human rights of all the people of Cyprus.

The post UN issues new document on CyProb to both Presidents appeared first on North Cyprus News | LGC News.

“They killed my friends,” says 52 year old Ali Uslu as he protested against the poisoning of his dogs and cats.

Every day there are reports of cats and dogs being poisoned. The latest incident happened yesterday just outside Tatlisu.

Mr Uslu lives in a one room house with a collection of cats and dogs. These are strays that he has picked up and looked after over the years. He lives off a small disability pension and by selling empty beer bottles.

He has now gone to the newspapers in an attempt to get something done.

The post Who will put a stop to animal poisoning? appeared first on North Cyprus News | LGC News.

The Director General of the Greek Cypriot Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Andreas Mavroyannis issued a press statement, yesterday.

In it he says that the key to any solution of the Cyprus problem lies with Turkey and that it is meaningless to hold any talks with TRNC President Eroglu.

Mr Mavroyannis says that any talks with Mr Eroglu are a mere formality and that the negotiations should be between parties representing both communities. Without Turkey at the table, he feels that there will be no solution. Therefore the Greek Cypriot team should go to Ankara direct and negotiate there.

He concludes by saying that nobody should think that the current economic crisis will affect their (Greek Cypriot) demands.

The post Negotiate CyProb directly with Turkey: says the South appeared first on North Cyprus News | LGC News.

The mayor of Degirmenlik, Osman Isisal is up in arms about the proposed abolition of the TL 5 per passenger levy at Ercan. This levy was passed on to his council and amounted to TL 5 -6 million per year.

With a population of 15,000, Degirmenlik’s plans for major infrastructure improvements will be severely impacted as they will no longer be able to afford to carry out the proposed works.

The politics behind the levy is that the mayor of Degirmenlik is a CTP party member and this levy was imposed while the CTP were in government.

Now the UBP is running the country, they do not see any sense in giving the levy to a CTP run council.

This move is a convenient reduction in levies to help keep the airlines calm following all the recent price hikes at Ercan airport.

The post Vital Investment to be cut to Degirmenlik appeared first on North Cyprus News | LGC News.

The Turkey Petroleum Corporation (TPAO) is currently exploring for oil in the Karpaz area and this has environmentalists worried.

The exploration is currently in its initial stages, consisting mainly of seismic testing to determine the geology of test areas. The Environmental Protection Agency has stated that these tests do not harm the environment.

However, the head of Green Peace, Dogan Sahir says that he is worried as to what will follow the exploration stage.

He claims that each seismic test costs around 3 million euro and asks why these amounts are not put into renewable energy instead.

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A major rift in the governing UBP party, has recently led to a bitter exchange of words between the two warring factions and threats of not attending parliament have been made.

Should this happen and the government failed a ‘no confidence’ motion, it would have to call early elections rather than wait for April of next year.

It has been observed this week, that Ahmet Kasif who is the leader of the dissident group in the UBP, has been meeting with the other opposition parties.

These meetings are looking into the possibility of bringing down the government with a ‘no confidence’ motion and also exploring possibilities of coalitions.

There would need to be 26 votes against the government to force early elections. The main opposition parties (CTP, DP and TDP) can put together 19 members of parliament and so would require 7 members of the dissident group of 10 to vote with them. This is definitely achievable.

The post ‘No confidence’ motion in UBP discussed appeared first on North Cyprus News | LGC News.

Against a background of economic hardship and stagnant wages, the UBP is raising prices at an ever increasing rate.

Three examples that show the scale of the increases over the past 5 years are:

The post Fuel and energy prices in TRNC continue to rise appeared first on North Cyprus News | LGC News.

A British man has been jailed for eight years for fatally stabbing an off-duty British soldier at a night club in Ayia Napa in November last year.

Mohammed Abdulkadir Osman, 19, was taken from Larnaca District Court to begin his sentence at Nicosia Prison.

On Wednesday, the lawyer for Osman called for leniency for his client.

“That there was no premeditation on the part of the defendant is proven by the facts since the victim and defendant didn’t know each other,” defence lawyer Kypros Andreou told a mitigation hearing at Larnaca District Court.

The victim Fusilier David Lee Collins, 18, from Manchester was serving at Dhekelia.

Eleven knives and cocaine was discovered by police in Osman’s hotel room after the stabbing.

Osman from London, originally pleaded not guilty but later admitted killing Collins.

Mr. Collins mother, Lisa Minott and colleagues were in court, as well as members of Osman’s family.

The funeral of Mr. Collins took place in Chorlton in northern England on November 23rd, 2012.

The post 8 years for fatal stabbing of British soldier appeared first on North Cyprus News | LGC News.

Two men who robbed and murdered a motel owner were sentenced to 25 years in prison at Kyrenia Court yesterday.

Abdussamed Durmus who owned the Elizel Motel in Kyrenia was beaten round the head with a crowbar and then stabbed 9 times on March 1^st 2012. He died from his wounds.

Two of the criminals, Ihsan Atar, who worked at the motel and Volkan Pirinc, his friend, were both jailed for 25 years for premeditated murder. Another accomplice, Sami Akkaya was given a 2 year jail sentence.

High Court Judge Bahar Saner, in his sentencing, said that all three culprits had confessed to their crimes early on and helped the courts reach a speedy conclusion. However, their crimes were very serious and they had to be punished accordingly.

The post Two men sentenced to 25 years for murder appeared first on North Cyprus News | LGC News.

A man has been accused of using fake receipts from the company he was working for to commit fraud amounting to TL 35,000.

Tamer Yuksel was a salesman for two years at the Nicosia based firm of Basman Ltd.

However from January to May of 2013 he amended receipts on the products he sold and obtained around TL 35,000.

Yuksel appeared at Nicosia court yesterday, where he was ordered to be detained for 7 days while police continue their investigations.

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The UN has distributed a 77 page document to both the TRNC and Greek Cypriot Presidents, however, TRNC President Eroglu has not shared this document with parliament or the political parties.

The document was presented by the UN Secretary General’s Special Adviser on Cyprus, Alexander Downer and is said to form a blueprint for future negotiations.

The contents of the document have not been disclosed to the TRNC press by President Eroglu. Although they are dated April 30^th, it was only the day before yesterday that they were revealed to the Greek Cypriot National Council.

A South Cyprus newspaper describes the document as a bombshell and states that it covers all the areas on which negotiations have been held so far. Included in this are power sharing, guarantees and property issues. Apparently the document says that Turkish Cypriots will be recognised internationally after the solution.

The post Secrecy surrounds UN CyProb documents appeared first on North Cyprus News | LGC News.

Another raid by police on night clubs resulted in 9 arrests.

Last night police raided the ‘Anemon’ night club in Gecitkoy and the previous night ‘Lipstick’ and ‘White Horse’ nightclubs.

A further 9 people were arrested after a fight in a Famagusta night club last night.

The post Police raid night clubs: Nine arrested appeared first on North Cyprus News | LGC News.

The UBP has called for a party meeting of its senior members on Monday. This is against a backdrop of preparations for a vote of ‘no confidence’ by the opposition parties as well as a splinter group within the UBP.

The leader of the splinter group is the UBP Member of Parliament for Famagusta, Ahmet Kasif.

He says that all the preparatory work has been done and that if completed in time, then his group will be ready to go to parliament on Monday.

The opposition parties, CTP,TDP,and DP will combine with the rebel UBP group and feel they have sufficient numbers to force an early election.

Leader of the main opposition CTP party, Yorgancioglu was asked today if he felt that there were sufficient numbers to topple the government. He replied that they would not be proposing the motion of ‘no confidence’ if they were not sure of success.

The post Monday critical day for government appeared first on North Cyprus News | LGC News.

The United Nations document containing the convergences and divergences of the last three years is not the basis for a new round of negotiations, President Anastasiades has said.

The President was responding to concerns expressed by the Greek Cypriot community in relation to the UN document.

The document was not submitted by the United Nations Secretary General’s Special Adviser on Cyprus, but it was given to him upon his request, President Anastasiades says.

He requested the document, he adds, not with the aim to use it as a basis for the resumption of the negotiations from the point at which they stopped.

It was requested with the aim of helping the Greek Cypriot side at the preparation stage, ahead of entering a negotiation process to know how to approach it. The document will show up any proposals the majority of the people and of the political leadership finds unacceptable.

Secondly, “my position is well known that despite my wish to recommence negotiations as soon as possible, this is impossible at present because I and my government are focusing on tackling the problems the financial crisis has accumulated,” President Anastasiades stresses.

This, he adds is being accepted by all parties involved, the United Nations included.

Thirdly, he says, it has been decided that the National Council would convene again on June 15 and during that meeting he will present in the context of his pre-election programme, comprehensive proposals as regards the new and upgraded role of the National Council, the appointment of a negotiator, the working groups and experts, the preparation of a proposals’ framework and the new process that should be agreed upon before any new round of negotiations starts.

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South Cyprus President Anastasiades sent a letter to the UN Secretary-General Bank Ki-moon in which he accused UN Special Adviser Alexander Downer and his team of undermining the president’s credibility and the prospects of resuming peace talks.

Anastasiades threatened to pull out of the UN-planned dinner between himself and President Dervis Eroglu on May 29, unless the UN chief could provide personal assurances that it would be a “social event” only.

The two-page letter, is dated May 17, 2013. In the letter, Anastasiades assures the UN chief of his commitment to the peace process.

He refers to the message sent to Ban via Foreign Minister Ioannis Kasoulides recently in New York, regarding the need to postpone the resumption of peace talks until autumn so Anastasiades could focus on the pressing economic crisis.

The president further reminds Ban in the letter that it was the Turkish Cypriot side that had abandoned the peace talks in March 2012, using Cyprus’ EU presidency as an excuse, despite the readiness of then president Demetris Christofias to continue the talks.

Getting to the crux of the matter, Anastasiades then refers to Downer’s invitation to himself and Eroglu to attend a dinner hosted by the UN, which he argues, was clearly presented as a social event.

The president writes to Ban saying : “I regret to express my disappointment with the handling of this issue by your special adviser who with actions and words creates expectations of a meeting of high political importance.”

Additionally, in an effort to achieve this goal, Downer’s associates are “giving inaccurate information which serves to undermine my credibility and the prospects of resuming peace talks”.

Anastasiades concludes the letter warning that he would seriously reconsider his presence at the dinner unless he receives explicit assurances from Ban, not his special adviser, about the social nature of the dinner.

Invited to comment on reports of the letter, Stylianides said the government wanted to stress that the May 29 dinner meeting between Anastasiades and Eroglu would be a social function.

“This is the type of meeting which has been agreed on,” he said.

The letter comes a day after the government confirmed it had received a 77-page document from the UN containing the convergences achieved between the two sides during the period 2008-2012, when Christofias was in power.

Ruling DISY leader Averof Neophytou yesterday told reporters that it was becoming clearer day by day that the UN has begun preparations on the Cyprus problem talks.

Neophytou said it appeared other countries interested in playing a role in the Cyprus problem were making the same preparations, adding: “I believe the government, the president, will take the necessary measures and steps so as not to be surprised.”

The post Anastasiades sends letter of complaint to Ban Ki-moon appeared first on North Cyprus News | LGC News.

Prime Minister Irsen Kucuk has made an announcement to the press late yesterday (May 18^th).

He has announced that due to the turmoil in his UBP party and the possibility of early elections he is flying back a day early to deal with the emergency.

Kucuk says that certain members of his party have used his trip away to bring forward their plans against the government. He will meet immediately on his return with the UBP party senior members to decide what the next steps will be. However he feels that given the current situation and an analysis of the numbers that there is no escape from an early election.

The post Kucuk to make early return to fight fires appeared first on North Cyprus News | LGC News.

The UBP led government is under serious threat of being toppled on Monday following  a number of political developments on today.

Head of TDP, Mehmet Cakici came out with a press statement today, saying that Prime Minister Kucuk had been making desperate attempts to divide the opposition before Monday. However, he claimed that the opposition parties have 27 votes between them and they only need 26 to topple the government.

He also accused Mr Kucuk of spending around TL 500,000 on his latest jaunt to the US.

Meanwhile head of the DP, Serdar Denktas, said that from Monday, Kucuk would not have a government. There would only be a technical process required until early elections are held. He advised Kucuk to stop commenting on the Cyprus problem as he had no longer had any authority.

Dr Ahmet Kasif, head of the rebel group within the UBP said that they had enough signatures to topple the government and that he had reached an agreement with the opposition parties.

He said that his group did not have any problems with their UBP party only with its management and with Mr Kucuk.

Meanwhile, Mr Kucuk met with senior party members this afternoon and the meeting ended without any press announcements.

The post Government faces major upheaval appeared first on North Cyprus News | LGC News.

It has just been announced that three members of parliament, Hasan Tacoy, Turay Tokel and Ahmet Kasif have been expelled from the UBP party.

All three were in the rebel group which planned to remove the UBP government from power through a vote of no-confidence.

The post Breaking: Three UBP members expelled from party appeared first on North Cyprus News | LGC News.

Following reported allegations that Cloud Construction owned by Temel Bulut, pictured above, has mis-sold houses off plan, it now emerges that it has been forced to sell land that the company was using for security on bank loans. Apparently, it has not met the terms of its bank loans for the past three months.

Today, Cloud announced the urgent sale of most of its land holdings with the stated intent of using the sales proceeds to directly repay bank loans.

The land up for sale includes a 67 donum plot in Catalkoy, where the firm was recently taking deposits for houses yet to be built.

The post Building company in forced land sale appeared first on North Cyprus News | LGC News.

The lights on the tomb of Dr Fazil Kucuk went out yesterday. This was because the electricity to the tomb was cut off automatically due to unpaid debts.

Dr Kucuk was the first Turkish Vice president of the Republic of Cyprus and a leader of the Turkish Cypriot community for decades.

According to Caglayan Cesurer, head of the Electricity Workers union (EL-SEN), the electricity was cut off automatically by a computer programme that showed there was a debt of TL 2,000 outstanding for two months.

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