Nicosia Uncut

Difficult times for Ukraine and for the world peace in general! While Russia's attack on Ukraine continues to create a humanitarian tragedy in the heart of Europe, there are lessons for Cypriots who are living in frozen conflict on the island. In this episode of Nicosia Uncut, Andromachi Sophocleous and Kemal Baykallı discusses how the war in Ukraine must teach the Cypriots the need to end their own conflict since they have been living on a powder keg for many decades. Harsh statements by the Russian Ambassador in Nicosia, upon the decision of the Republic of Cyprus to close its airspace as this is also a common decision of the EU, created a resentment among various circles. Anastasiades government, however, is trying to go below the radar instead of taking a determined position against the Russian invasion.

The post Nicosia Uncut – Episode 36: War in Ukraine and the lessons for Cypriots (10/3/2022) first appeared on Island Talks.

Since the collapse of the talks in Crans Montana, Anastasiades government has dedicated all its foreign policy capital in isolating Turkey through various diplomatic tools. Apart from a number of regional agreements (which were highlighted with tantamount ceremonies), the Republic of Cyprus has used its EU membership to push, unsuccessfully, for European sanctions against Turkey. […]

The post Nicosia Uncut – Episode 35: RoC’s U-turn from sanctions to CBMs (17/2/2022) first appeared on Island Talks.

Cyprus is the land of impossible fantasies. One side thinks that the international community is now ready to accept a “two-state solution” in Cyprus, the other tries to play a global chess-game with a non-feasible, unrealistic “East Med Pipeline Project”, something which was doomed to fail from the beginning. In this episode of Nicosia Uncut, […]

The post Nicosia Uncut – Episode 34: Cyprus: The land of pipe dreams (14/1/2022) first appeared on Island Talks.

The Turkish Cypriot economy is badly hit following the meltdown of the Turkish lira. Being an import oriented economy based on services, economy in the north was already fragile due to the pandemic. The depreciation of the Turkish lira affected northern part of the island even more than Turkey since the slider at the volume […]

The post Nicosia Uncut – Episode 33: TCs hit by currency, RoC’s illusions on EU sanctions collapsed (20/12/2021) first appeared on Island Talks.

In this special episode of Nicosia Uncut, Andromachi Sophocleous and Kemal Baykallı discuss and analyse the content, context and the implications of the leaked UN minutes with the delegations on the last day (6 July 2017) of the Cyprus conference in Crans Montana which ended without any agreement. Also known as "Crash Montana", the failure effectively ended the efforts to find a solution to the Cyprus problem, leading to a blame game between the sides since then. The leaked UN minutes, as collected on this episode page - www.islandtalks.fm , demonstrated how the chapter on security and guarantees was the main source of disagreement in an environment heavily fortified with mistrust. The leaked documents also shed some light on the role of the UN and the EU in the latest talks.

The post Nicosia Uncut – Episode 32: Cyprus problem: What do the leaked UN minutes tell us? (3/12/2021) first appeared on Island Talks.

In this episode of Nicosia Uncut, Andromachi Sophocleous and Kemal Baykallı explore the reconciliation initiatives in Cyprus - Home for Cooperation, Technical Committee on Cultural Heritage in Cyprus, Cyprus Dialogue Forum, Famagusta Avenue Garage and The Base by Cyprusinno are few to name. In the local politics, Turkish Cypriot right wing UBP party had a leadership race, electing Dr.Faiz Sucuoğlu as the new leader of the party and the new PM until the early elections which is expected to take place in early 2022. 2023 presidential elections of RoC enhanced the rivalries within the Greek Cypriot right wing DISY party, some independents have already announced that they are running. Last but not least, the West is cautiously waiting for the 2023 elections in Turkey, and it seems that Erdoğan is finally losing steam according to the latest polls.

The post Nicosia Uncut – Episode 31: Rivalries in UBP & DISY; Erdoğan’s deteriorating popularity (3/11/2021) first appeared on Island Talks.

Summer is over and all sides are now focused on upcoming elections on both parts of the divide in Cyprus and in Turkey. Turkish Cypriot minority coalition finally collapsed the day after this episode was recorded. Both Turkey and the Republic of Cyprus have presidential elections in 2023 and the tension around the waters of […]

The post Nicosia Uncut – Episode 30: More elections, more tensions (14/10/2021) first appeared on Island Talks.

Anastasiades invited the Turkish Cypriots back to the 1960 constitutional order as a response to Tatar’s statements in a never-ending tit-for-tat blame game. This caught everybody by surprise, including his own cabinet members. In this episode of Nicosia Uncut, Andromachi Sophocleous and Kemal Baykallı discuss the latest in Cyprus politics with a particular focus on […]

The post Nicosia Uncut – Episode 29: Back to the 1960 constitutional order? Really? (2/9/2021) first appeared on Island Talks.

In the heat of August, Nicosia Uncut producers Andromachi Sophocleous and Kemal Baykallı explain how the Cyprus problem continues to pose problems in all walks of life: This time on the registry of vaccinated Turkish Cypriots and non-recognition of their documentation. To the north of the island, in Turkey, AKP government which has been in […]

The post Nicosia Uncut – Episode 28: Divided over vaccination registries and what’s going on in Turkey? (14/8/2021) first appeared on Island Talks.

On 19-20 July 2021, during his visit in Cyprus, Turkey’s President has reiterated their position that they now support a two-state solution for the solution of the Cyprus problem and announced partial opening of Varosha in violation of the UN Security Council resolutions. A wave of international reactions started to pour in. In this episode […]

The post Nicosia Uncut – Episode 27: ‘Two-state solution’ and opening of Varosha? What now? (22/7/2021) first appeared on Island Talks.