Turkish daily newspaper Hurriyet Daily News (online, 24.02.12) reports that Turkey is planning to purchase 100 multi-purpose F-35 jet fighters worth $16 billion, Turkish Defence Minister Ismet Yilmaz has said, according to daily Milliyet. The first two of the military aircraft will be delivered by 2015, he said. The decision to order two F-35s was made last month. 

The multi-purpose F-35 fighter jets are being produced by the U.S.-based arms producer Lockheed Martin. Turkey became a member of the international F-35 consortium in 1999. Other partners of the consortium include Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, Canada, Australia, Norway and Denmark. 

The statement indicates that Turkey is insisting on proceeding with its plan to purchase 100 F-35s even as many other partner countries, including the United States, have backtracked on their purchase plans due to delays and incremental costs.[...] Read more in Cyprus Now

Writing in his daily column in Turkish Cypriot daily Yeni Duzen newspaper (24.02.12), journalist Sami Ozuslu reports that as he and the paper’s editor-in-chief Cenk Mutluyakali have found out from sources very close to a high ranking UN official, that the Cyprus negotiations process is about to be interrupted. According to Ozuslu, the United Nations and mainly UN Secretary-General’s Special Advisor on Cyprus Alexander Downer intent to close down their offices and abandon the island. Ozuslu goes on and writes, inter alia, the following:

“We have heard that General Secretary Ban expresses around his intention never to come again to Cyprus. And the worst of all, we found out that the final countdown for this ‘bad end’ has started and that only five weeks are left. What will follow then is a complete cyclone! Especially for the Turkish Cypriots… The source that is close to the high ranking UN official says that ‘the Turkish side is about to be considered guilty’. Why? The response is open and clear: ‘Eroglu and Ozersay, instead of expressing views on the fundamental issues at the table, enter into details and drown the process with these details’.

With this, the job of Christofias on the other side becomes easier. Especially the statements as regards the ‘Taiwanization’ heard from Eroglu’s team and the visits of the committees for ‘keeping the TRNC alive’ which are intensified these days, continuously give positions to the other end of the negotiating table?[...] Read more in Cyprus Now

A few months ago I happened to attend a discussion (or attempt thereof) held on Oct. 10, 2011 at the Cultural Center of Larnaca, Cyprus, regarding the concept of federation.

The event was indented to take the form of a discussion with Mr. Alexander Downer, the UN Secretary General representative in Cyprus since 2008. Mr. Downer had just stepped off the plane from a trip in Australia and had graciously accepted the invitation to hold a discussion that same evening. The event was organized by the NGO Support Center and the Engage Program funded by UNDP. What ensued after Mr. Downer’s brief comments about some of the fundamentals of a federation system, was a dramatic comedy of errors: shouting, personal attacks towards Mr. Downer and others attending — including the mayor of the city of Larnaca- and lo and behold verbal fist fights amongst several audience members that walked out. Some of us tried to restore the balance with apologies and shifting gears to the subject at hand, while a teenager in the audience asked the most poignant question of all evening.

As the evening drew to an end, one thing was clear: The events revealed once again that there exists a huge chasm in the three generations in Cyprus and their perceptions of the past, the present and the future brought by unresolved pain, lack of transparency, lack of dialogue and an anemic civic society. The baby boomers were bitter, feisty and one could even say, uncivilized. They didn’t comprehend the point of the event, they didn’t listen to anything anyone said and they seemed blinded by their emotions. The two Generation Xers tried to focus on the present, apologized for the verbal jabs and tried to make sense of the technicalities of customizing a federation system in Cyprus. The Generation Y representative asked a forward-looking question clearly with eyes in the future.[...] Read more in Cyprus Now

I love the current (Greek) anthem, it is undeniably a part of me while at the same time I will freely admit that I’m not fond of Turkish politics. However I want a national anthem that’s better then the existing Greek one. I think an independent Republic of Cyprus needs a new national anthem that is void of any politics. The only criteria that should be considered in choosing a new anthem must be whether or not the new proposed anthem is good enough to one day be considered the best national anthem in the world.

The new anthem should be so good that all people will be gobsmacked when they hear it at the Football stadium or at the Olympics. It to should be so good that when foreign nationals listen to the new anthem on Youtube, that they feel a little jealous inside. The new anthem should be so good that when Al Qaeda listen to it, they be drunk in chill with hurricane force. I want prison guards in Guantanamo to listen to the new anthem and drop their batons. I want Pakistani and Indian leaders to listen to the song and settle over Kashmir peacefully. I want people in the streets of Jerusalem to listen to the Cypriot national anthem and to drop on their knees, weep and – both Israelis and Palestinians – hug each other while licking tears off of their faces. I want Hitler to listen to the song and turn in his grave and maybe even cry for all that he did.

I want future little Cypriots kids to listen to our new national anthem and be inspired to create and innovate. I want the national anthem to be the driver of Cypriot economy rather then the Sun, the beaches & the natural gas. I want Cyprus to create books, music, film and arts that does justice to the quality and the spirit of the new Cyprus national anthem.[...] Read more in Cyprus Now

[...] Read more in Cyprus Now

Four months before Cyprus takes up the EU’s rotating presidency, tensions are increasing on and around the island. While this is partially to do to with a last-ditch attempt by the UN to speed up progress on the peace talks for the reunification of the island, which has ruffled a few feathers, it is far more a consequence of ongoing Greek Cypriot gas exploitation efforts and the linked upgrading of ties with Israel.

Energy reserves in the Levant Basin, which are estimated to be some 122 trillion cubic feet of gas and some 1.7 billion barrels of oil, could make Cyprus energy self-sufficient while transforming Israel into an energy exporter. These developments have annoyed both Turkey and Lebanon, which claim they also have rights to these rich reserves, further destabilizing an already volatile region.

Following the visit of Israeli President Shimon Peres to Cyprus some three months ago, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Cyprus last week, and it was the first time an Israeli prime minister has visited the island. Historically, the Greek Cypriots have had a very cautious approach towards developing closer ties with a country that shared such close military ties with Turkey. However, since Turkey fell out with Israel, Tel Aviv has moved to warm up relations with both Greece and Cyprus, with which it is now building up ties in a number of different sectors. The top priority is energy including the possibility of a joint pipeline to export gas to Europe and Asia, although this has not yet been agreed to by the Greek Cypriots.[...] Read more in Cyprus Now

Τέλος ο Χριστόφιας για το ΑΚΕΛ; Δεν θα είναι ξανά υποψήφιος του κομμουνιστικού κόμματος θα το αξίωμα του Προέδρου της Δημοκρατίας;

Αυτό θα φανεί σε λίγους μήνες. Η επιρροή που έχει ο πρώην ΓΓ του κόμματος, είναι ισχυρή και ενισχύθηκε από τις μεθοδεύσεις του να εκλεγεί ο εκλεκτός του, Άντρος Κυπριανού στη θέση του ΓΓ και αρκετοί από την αυλή του ως βουλευτές. Ωστόσο, δεν μπορεί να μη ληφθεί υπόψη, ότι υπάρχουν εσωτερικές δημοσκοπήσεις του κόμματος, που δείχνουν ότι ο Χριστόφιας δεν είναι εκλέξιμος, δηλαδή αν είναι υποψήφος για επανεκλογή δεν έχει πιθανότητες να κερδίσει.

Οι λόγοι βεβαίως είναι προφανείς: Οι τεράστιες πολιτικές και προσωπικές ευθύνες που έχει για την τραγωδία της 11ης Ιουλίου 2011, η παταγώδης αποτυχία της οικονομικής πολιτικής της διακυβέρνησης του και οι βαρύτατες συνέπειες επί των πολιτών, η φασιστική νοοτροπία της διακυβέρνησης, οι διώξεις, το ρουσφέτι και η αναξιοκρατία και φυσικά το ξεπούλημα πάγιων θέσεων αρχών της Ε/κ πλευράς στο κυπριακό. Τα ανώτατα ηγετικά κλιμάκια του ΑΚΕΛ πρέπει σε σύντομο χρονικό διάστημα να αποφασίσουν αν θα προχωρήσουν με υποψήφιο μια προβληματική πολιτικά προσωπικότητα, όπως αυτή του Χριστόφια, με τον κίνδυνο να χάσουν να είναι παραπάνω από ορατός ή αν θα κάνουν άλλες επιλογές. Ένα από τα σενάρια, είναι να εξευρεθεί υποψήφιος μέσα από τις τάξεις του ΑΚΕΛ. Αυτό το σενάριο συγκεντρώνει τις λιγότερες πιθανότητες υλοποίησης, καθώς κόμματα όπως το ΔΗΚΟ και η ΕΔΕΚ δεν θα ξεγελαστούν με ενός τέτοιου είδους υποψηφιότητα και δεν θα τη στηρίξουν. Ακόμα και στελέχη των δύο αυτών κομμάτων, που θεωρούνται φίλα προσκείμενα στο ΑΚΕΛ, δεν θα μπορέσουν επιχειρηματολογήσουν υπέρ μιας τέτοιας υποψηφιότητας, γιατί θα αποκαλυφθούν. Ακριβώς τα ίδια με τα πιο πάνω ισχύουν για το σενάριο να εξευρεθεί υποψήφιος τύπου Βασιλείου, δηλαδή ένας άσχετος με τα πολιτικά και κομματικά τεκταινόμενα. Κόμματα και ψηφοφόροι δεν πρόκειται να ξεγελαστούν εύκολα. Το άλλο σενάριο είναι να «κρυφτεί» το ΑΚΕΛ πίσω από μια άλλη κομματική υποψηφιότητα και αν χάσει ο υποψήφιος να μην θεωρηθεί απευθείας ήττα. Αν κερδίσει, το ΑΚΕΛ θα συμμετέχει και πάλι στη διακυβέρνηση του τόπου. Το πιο πάνω σενάριο μπορεί να υλοποιηθεί μόνο με στήριξη από το ΑΚΕΛ υποψήφιου, είτε από το ΔΗΚΟ, είτε από την ΕΔΕΚ.[...] Read more in Cyprus Now

[...] Read more in Cyprus Now