Island Talks

It is now crystal clear that solution of the Cyprus problem was actually within the reach during 2016 and 2017 summits, it took five years for the Greek Cypriot politics to question the Greek Cypriot leadership's share of responsibility in the failure. While the establishment is fighting the last ditch battle to save Anastasiades and his team from any responsibility by throwing leaked minutes one after another to support their line of interpretation, every new statement from the negotiation team members, every leaked document prove otherwise. In this episode of Nicosia Uncut, Andromachi Sophocleous and Kemal Baykallı question how the leading mainstream media organ is acting like a mouthpiece and a shield instead of carrying out their journalistic duties. While the battle over the records of failed talks is far from over, no presidential candidate seem to offer a realistic strategy on how to resume the talks to solve the Cyprus problem. On the other side of the divide Tatar is under fire, once more, for attending the ceremony of the fifth Islamic Games, taking place in Turkey, while the Turkish Cypriot athletes were not allowed to compete.

After a summer brake, Nicosia Uncut is back with the latest political developments in Cyprus. Three leading presidential candidates participated in the first debate on PIK, Cyprus state channel, discussing their perspectives on the Cyprus problem. All three candidates, namely DISY leader Averof Neofytou, AKEL's candidate former negotiator Andreas Mavroyiannis and former Minister of Foreign Affairs Nikos Christodoulides, have been the main figures in current President Anastasides' administration. On the other hand, the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres have sent out his 6-monthly report on UNFICYP and UN Good Offices in Cyprus to the UN Security Council. The content triggered attacks on Colin Stewart, UN chief in Cyprus, by pro-government media. Andromachi Sophocleous and Kemal Baykalli discuss the political developments on both sides of the divide on the island.

Garip Zamanlar'ın bu bölümünde Evren İnançoğlu, Kemal Baykallı ve Sertaç Sonan Viyana'nın merkezinde olmayan kasabalardaki insanların sıcaklığını, Avrupa'daki kedi köpek istatistiklerini, Tanıl Bora'nın Ulus Baker'e de gönderme yaparak yazdığı "beytambal" makalesini, ölümcül kimlikleri, dildeki siyasi doğruculuğun geldiği aşmayı, vampirleri ve zombileri konuştular. Spoiler vermemeye çalışarak film anlattılar. Geçmiş programlara verilen geri bildirimleri değerlendirdiler. Nebula mevzuu gelecek programa kaldı.

Garip Zamanlar'ın bu bölümüde Evren İnançoğlu, Kemal Baykallı ve Sertaç Sonan veganizmi masaya yatırıyorlar. Etik beslenmek mümkün mü? Dünyanın protein ihtiyacını solucanlar ve çekirgeler mi karşılayacak? Z kuşağı sütten utanıyor mu? Almanya'nın veggie döneri. Enternasyonelde hayvan hakları. Bitcoin'de son durum ne? Sertaç'ın dolmuş gibi uçakla Yunan adası ziyareti ve bizde niye böyle olmuyor hayıflanması. Evren'in Viyana seferi ve daha nice ilginç mevzular, Kıbrıs'ın sevilen podcastı Garip Zamanlar'da.

In this episode of Figure It, Sapienta Economics Director Fiona Mullen talks to Dr Mustafa Besim, Professor of Economics at Eastern Mediterranean University and Dean of the Faculty of Business and Economics, about the economy of northern Cyprus, in particular the latest economic and financial protocol worth around 240 million euro signed between the Turkish Cypriot administration and Turkey. What are the protocol’s strengths, what are its weaknesses and what should be the priority for Turkish Cypriot economic policy?  

Legacy of Anastasiades seems to be dominating the political scene in Cyprus in the coming term as well. Early favorites of the Presidential race, DISY's Neophytou, currently independent Christodoules and AKEL's potential candidate Mavroyiannis have been the aces of Anastasiades' team during his rule. In this episode of Nicosia Uncut, Andromachi Sophocleous and Kemal Baykallı shed a critical light on the system that fails to generate strong alternative candidates backed by the leading political parties in Cyprus. The latest meltdown of institutions and the system in the Turkish Cypriot political was also discussed.

In this episode of Nicosia Uncut Andromachi Sophocleous and Kemal Baykallı discuss how Turkey is firming its grip in the Turkish Cypriot politics as the right-wing coalition of UBP leader Dr Faiz Sucuoğlu collapses yet again due to his apparent fall-out with cabinet members supported by Turkey's AKP leadership. True, this is not the first time Turkey is interfering in the Turkish Cypriot politics but the extend in which Turkey's AKP leadership is involved in deciding the cabinet names is rather new. In the Greek Cypriot politics, opposition AKEL is still trying to decide on its candidate as the former negotiator Andreas Mavroyannis and independent lawyer Achilleas Demetriades are widely discussed as potential names. UniteCyprusNow continue to lobby for easing the crossings in the face of long queues at the crossing points. Some refreshing news: Stelios awards were handed to number of Greek and Turkish Cypriot business partnerships.

Johnny Depp'i madara eden bu hayat bize neler yapmaz! Garip Zamanlar'ın bayram özel sayısında Evren İnançoğlu, Kemal Baykallı ve Sertaç Sonan; Johnny Depp-Amber Heard davası üzerinden toksik erilliği, mutlu olma dayatması üzerinden toksik olumlamayı ve Çin rejiminin eleştirel yazıları görünmez bir dijital mürekkep gibi ortadan kaldırmasını konuştular. Heidegger, Sartre, Arendt, Kierkegaard bu haftaki düşün hayatımızın konuklarıydı. Distopyalar, ütopyalar, Bill Gates, Musk'ın Twitter'i satın alması derken program bitti.

İngiltere'de Boris, Amerika'da Donald, Fransa'da Marie, Oscar'larda Will, apokaliptik salgında corona. İçinden geçtiğimiz garip zamanlarda herşey mümkün. Evren İnançoğlu, Kemal Baykallı ve Sertaç Sonan, ana akım sinemanın zirvesinde atılan tokadı, pandeminin ortasında partileyen İngiltere Başbakanı Boris Johnson'un aldığı cezayı, Putin'i haklı gören aklı karışmışları, babasını partiden atan aşırı sağcı Marie Le Pen'in çıkışını, ünlü düşünür Heidegger ve ünlü besteci Wagner'in nazilerle olan bağlarını, sinemada vampirlerin ve zombilerin tarihçesini ve binlerce insann ilgisine mazhar olan akademik zombi çalıştayının akibetini konuştular. Menüde ise Lurucina zivaniyası vardı.

In this episode of Nicosia Uncut, Andromachi Sophocleous and Kemal Baykallı host Dr.Alexandra Novosseloff, the author of the EPON (Effectiveness of Peace Operations Network) report titled "Assessing the Effectiveness of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force (UNFICYP) and the Office of the Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Cyprus (OSASG)". What does the report entail? What kind of work does the UN do behind the scenes to prevent crisis to occur? What are the relations between the conflict-prevention and peacemaking in the Cypriot context? How does the "fear of recognition" affect the work of the UN?

The link to the full report: https://effectivepeaceops.net/publication/assessing-effectiveness-of-unficyp-and-osasg/