Current Events

Cyprus Foreign Minister Foreign Minister and United Arab Emirates Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to establish a joint cooperation committee.

The two Foreign Ministers, who met in Nicosia, also signed an agreement to foster better cooperation in matters of technical and economic importance between the and technical cooperation between the two nations.

Sheikh Al Nahyan, who came to Nicosia from his home in the UAE, met Demetris Syllouris, the House President and discussed at length the various political developments in the eastern Mediterranean region. Said discussion included the Cyprus problem, its ramifications and possible solutions.

In turn, Mr. Syllouris informed Sheikh Al Nahyan various initiatives, including (but not limited to) promoting the Arabic language in Cyprus, the creation of a Middle East cooperation centre in the island nation, and of course, ways to promote regional, bilateral and multilateral relations across all countries and regions.

Accompanying Sheikh Al Nahyan was Sultan Ahmed Ghamen Al Suawaidi, UAE’s Ambassador to Cyprus along with a group of his ministry’s top officials.

Cyprus’ Finance Ministry has revealed that the island nation will soon issue bonds worth 5 years and 30 years. The debt issuance will be carried out by all major financial instructions, including Deutsche Bank, Barclays, J.P. Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Societe Generale and Morgan Stanley.

The Ministry has revealed that Cyprus – with its Standard & Poor’s rating of ΒΒΒ-, Moody’s rating of Ba2-,  Fitch’s rating of BBB, and finally, DBRS rating of BBBL will issue five-year maturity 2024 (euro) and thirty-year maturity 2049 (euro).

The purpose of said activity is to pay early the loan worth 2.5 billion euros that was taken from Russia, which currently has 1.57 billion euros worth of outstanding.

Kathimerini has said that given the inability of the new debt issuance strategy to make full re-repayment, they would offer a solution of partial repayment.

Auctions for both bond types would take place at the same time.

Nicos Anastasiades the President of Cyprus made his first and very historic visit to the country of Georgia. First arriving in the capital city of Tbilisi, the President met with the Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili.

He also held several important meetings with several key officials, including (but not limited to) Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze, as well as Parliamentary Speaker Irakli Kobakhidze.

The purpose of the trip was to have the two nations know each other better, to improve upon trade settings, investment arrangements and most importantly, bilateral relations, between the two nations.

In a recent spate of drug-related arrests, A 39-year-old man has been arrested in connection with a case that dealt with the alleged smuggling of over 25 Kgs of cannabis.

The drugs were in a woman’s luggage. The 34-year-old woman had arrived at Paphos airport from last October. The cannabis, weighing a total of 25.3kg were discovered by customs and later by police officers – stored in 20 nylon bags.

The woman in question was arrested on the spot and will stay under custody till the trial.

The man, on the other hand, was arrested in Greece on the basis of the Europe-wide arrest warrant issued by Cypriot authorities and extradited to the island nation. He was formally arrested by Cyprus.

The item found at Kokkini Limni in Mitsero – the site of the mass dumping of killed women – has been determined as completely unconnected to the case.

The item, which consists of several of sponges that are tied to a piece of wood, which are wrapped in a carpet, is actually a prop from “I Sfagi tou Kokora” (literally, the killing of the rooster) a film that was directed by Andreas Pantzis and released in 1996. In the movie, the protagonist (Georges Corraface) wrapped the “body” in the carpet and dropped it in the very toxic lake.

The item came up during the thorough search being made by the police, who have been using divers, robotic cameras, as well as sonar equipment to find murder victims.

According to Pantzis, he had alerted the police of the possibility of finding the prop as he was aware of it being thrown during filming.

Meanwhile, the serial killer in question is a Greek Cypriot army officer who confessed to having murdered 5 women and 2 children. His confession included the fact that the bodies of three of his victims two women and a child were put in suitcases and thrown into the Kokkini Limni. Two of these have been recovered, and search for a third one is still underway.

The Bank of Cyprus has appointed Panicos Nicolaou its new CEO.

According to the board of directors, who made the announcement, Mr. Nicolaou, would be succeeding John Patrick Hourican.

Mr. Nicolaou’s appointment as a serving CEO remains subject to the approval of the European Central Bank (ECB), which once done, will allow him to actively take up his duties.

Mr. Nicolaou has been working for the bank since 2001, and has spent most of the time in the corporate banking division. In June 2016, he was promoted to director of the corporate banking division, and since then has been a member of the executive committee.

He has a BSc in financial services from the UMIST School of Management in United Kingdom, a BSc in mechanical engineering from Metsovio in Greece, as well as MSc in mechanical & industrial engineering from University of Illinois in USA. Besides these, he has been a well-regarded associate member of UK Chartered Institute of Bankers in the United Kingdom since 2004.

Working in the capacity of a CEO-designate till his approval, Mr. Nicolaou will be working closely Hourican to help make sure that the transition will be a smooth one.

The coalition government in Cyprus has collapsed, courtesy of the withdrawal of centrist HP leader, and Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Kudret Özersay, along with his party from.

According to the minister, the withdrawal was being made due to the ridiculous property rentals of the ministry of finance, that was causing a “crisis in confidence.”

According to Turkish Agency Cyprus (TAK), Özersay stated that party members were left to decide if they would continue to be a part of the opposition party or make their own bid to form government. Özersay has also said that snap elections were not beyond possibility.

This announcement comes along with that of Tufan Erhürman, Prime Minister and leader of Republican Turkish Party (CTP), who revealed he would be submitting the government’s resignation. To that end, the met President Mustafa Akıncı and offered said resignation.

Before this, Finance Minister Serdar Denktaş – a leader of the Democratic Party (DP) – announced his own resignation. In a written statement, he explained while he would continue his support of the current government in Parliament, he would be resigning from the post that was his in the ministry.

The airports on the island nation have observed an increase in passenger traffic by 3.7 percent – which gives everyone working in the sector – workers and stakeholders alike – some much-needed hope 2019 too would go on to reach last year’s record four million arrivals.

Hermes Airports has revealed that the from January 2019 to April 2019, the number of passengers passing through Paphos and Larnaca airports was 2.26 million, increasing by over 3.7% 2018’s 2.18 million during the same period.

The credit for the increase is being given to the Paphos airport’s dramatic increase in flow of passengers. Between 2019, January to April period, 641,100 passengers passed the airport – up by an impressive 13.4% from 2018. Larnaca airport, on the other hand, had an increase of just 0.3% – going up to 1.62 million in passenger flow from 2018’s 1.61 million.

Paphos has been having a massive increase in passenger flow – in April alone the upswing there was a record 3.7 percent, compared to Larnaca’s much lower 1.2%.

Michalakis Zampelas, the former mayor of Nicosia died, aged 82.

Mr. Zampelas was known to have founded the famous accounting and consulting firm – Coopers & Lybrand in Athens, Greece and in Cyprus, which opened doors for trade and development in accounting in the Mediterranean and beyond. The firm was later renamed as PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) in a merger made in 1998.

The Cyprus branch of PricewaterhouseCoopers today has over 1000 people in staff and partners and is considered a pillar when it comes to professional services on the island nation.

Mr. Zampleas was also serving Estonia’s Honorary Consul General in Cyprus, a post he received in 1997, and used to substantially contribute to the improvement of economic, political and cultural development between the two countries. He was awarded the title of the Order of the National Coat of Arms by the Estonian President for his contributions.

Mr. Zampelas went on to win the Nicosia municipal elections in 2001 and took office on the 1^st January 2002, going on to serve in the same position till 31^st December 2006.

Mr. Zampelas received several honors in 2007, including (but not limited to) the honorary medal of the city of Nicosia, and a special honor from the board of The Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Cyprus.

He is survived by his wife Loukia, their three daughters and their eight grandchildren. The funeral is set to take place in Ayia Varvara church, Kaimakli.

On behalf of the Cyprus Police and Justice system, the new police chief in Cyprus has apologized over the “rather negligent” handling of the serial killing case that shook the morals of the people all over the island nation.

Cyprus Police Chief Kypros Michaelides apologized to the to the families of the 7 foreign women and their daughters who were killed by the army captain (according to his own confession). He explained how the police could not protect the victims, and addition failed to conduct a proper investigation. He further added that the people who failed to do their duties would be held responsible.

Trying to smoothen ruffled feathers, Michaelides said that he fully understood the public’s frustrations and anger and promised to do everything that was “humanly possible” to restore lost ground and the trust of the public in the island’s policing system.

This comes a week after the resignation of the Justice Minister and the firing of the then police chief by President Nicos Anastasiades. All of this happened on grounds of improper investigations into the first missing persons, which, if done properly, could have found the suspect much before he could kill the women and girls who became his later victims.

Victims include a 36-year-old woman from Romania along with her eight-year-old daughter – both of who went missing in 2016. The police, however, instead of diving deeper into the matter, has apparently said that the mother-daughter has absconded to Turkish Cypriot.

Had the police made their investigations properly, the next five who went on to become the suspect’s victims would never have disappeared in the first place. These included two Filipino women, a Nepalese woman, and two other as of yet unidentified girls.

The police have found a fifth body in a lake – believed to be the fifth victim of the suspected serial killer who as it seems has been targeting foreign women for over three years and stayed undetected.

The body was retrieved by divers from a lake that lies west of the Cypriot capital city of Nicosia, the location where another woman was found dead and stuffed in a suitcase.

Police officials have revealed that the body was decomposed and in an unidentifiable state when it was found and will be taken to the mortuary for further investigations. Like the last one, this too was found in a suitcase.

The police currently have a 35-year-old man – an army captain – in custody. The man was taken in custody in April on grounds of suspicion of at least 5 women (all adults) and their young daughters.

According to the Cyprus News Agency, the newly discovered body is probably of a child.

Among the five dead, 4 are determined to be from the Philippines – this includes a six-year-old girl and her mother. Others include a Nepalese woman, and a Romanian woman along with her eight-year-old daughter. Almost all of these women were employed as housekeepers and had at some point gone missing between 2016 and 2018.

According to the police, the suspect has given to two written confessions from the arrested suspect, who says that he met the women on the internet.

Former Ambassador Andreas Mavrommatis has passed away at the age of 86.

The foreign ministry has expressed grief over the death of the Ambassador on Saturday, hailing the man as one of the leading figures in the Cyprus diplomacy scene and a relentless advocate the island nation’s interest.  The ministry went on to say how Mavrommatis, throughout his professional tenure had left an “indelible mark” in the foreign affairs ministry – one that will remain for years, if not decades.

Mavrommatis had an incredible career, having served in several influential positions over the due course of the same – besides serving as Cyprus’ ambassador from 1982 to 1989, he served as Cyprus’ Permanent Representative to the Office of the UN in Geneva 1975 to 1978. During the 1979-1982 and the 1989-1992 period, he continued to serve as the Permanent Representative of Cyprus in United Nations Headquarters in New York.

Besides the aforementioned, Mavrommatis also served as the Vice President, and later the President of the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations. He was also a prestigious member, and later became the chairman of the United Nations’ Commission on Human Rights. A relentless advocate of human rights, he was the elected president of the UN Convention against Torture committee, and before that served as a UN Special Rapporteur for the human rights situation in Iraq.

Last but not the least, he served as a minister of labor in Cyprus on various occasions and was one of the key negotiators on Cyprus talks.

Mavrommatis’ funeral will be held in Engomi in Nicosia.

The police are investigating the incident of a possible serial killer on the loose after the discovery of two women were murdered and later dumped in a mine shaft.

A third victim, a child of 6 years of age, continues to be missing.

The victims, who were discovered within a week at an abandoned mine 30 kms. away from Nicosia, have been identified as a 39-year-old and a 28-year-old, both Filipino women, both from separate families who had disappeared sometime in 2018.

The prime suspect for the crimes is a 35-year-old career officer serving in the Cypriot army. He is currently in custody.

Police Chief Zacharias Chrysostomou has condemned the crimes, emphasizing on the need to assess what is an unprecedented crime at best. Both the mine shaft, which is completely underwater, and the nearby reservoir are being searched for possible clues.

The Turkish Republic of North Cyprus – a breakaway nation that is recognized exclusively by Turkey, has announced to the UN that it would begin its drilling activities in Cyprus’ exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

The two entities, namely Turkish-occupied Cyprus and Turkey have made their efforts to increase their drilling and gas exploration activities. This has had Nicosia (capital of EU-member Greek Cyprus) and Ankara to go at odds with both Turkish Cypriots’ apparent gas revenue shared and Turkey’s territorial claims.

According to Greek news platform Ekathimerini, Turkey’s Foreign Ministry has published a map, whereby ‘Areas F and G’ – the place of research and drilling are in fact Cyprus’ Special Economic Zone parcels 1,2,8,9 and part of parcels 12 and 13.

Turkey made headlines in February by using its survey vessel, the Barbaros to make explorations in Cyprus’ offshore block 9 in the EEZ.

Kyriakos Mitsotakis is on a visit to Cyprus for a duration of 2 days, where he is said to hold talks with the Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades. The Greek opposition leader and conservative leader was welcomed by Averof Neofytou, the Cyprus’ Democratic Rally (DISY) party’s head upon his arrival in Nicosia.

Mr. Neofytou was very optimistic about the visit and about the impending general elections in Greece. He made no hesitations to express the same, saying how Greece would be fortunate to be under Mr. Mitsotakis’ leadership, which he believed was only a matter of time

Mr. Mitsotakis too had good words to say in reply, mentioning Cyprus’ efficiency in recovering from its financially downtrodden condition and making growth rates as high as 4%. He praised the island nation’s efforts by emphasizing on how Cyprus managed to accomplish what Greece has not been able to do thus far. He further added emphasized that a country could never restructure their fiscal system by pressuring the middle class through over-taxing the productive economy.

Further statements from the Greek conservative leader included the lauding of elections as an opportunity for making big political change that will change the flow of creative forced and in turn help the economy get better.

As part of its military exercise, the Rafale jets of French Air Force continued its flights in the Nicosia FIR, and were therefore seen in Cyprus skies.

According to a statement that was issued by the Ministry of Defense in Cyprus, helicopters from Cyprus and Rafale fighter jets from France will be conducting exercises over Polis Chrysochous and Paphos.

According to the local Kathimerini Cyprus, the French fighter jets were seen in Cypriot skies participating in the exercise and flying over Famagusta and Larnaca.

The aeronautical exercise conducted by the French Navy and the French Air Force is a part of military cooperation-related activities between Cyprus and France.

A prominent local competition has made the gesture of honoring local wines of Cyprus.

Speaking at the 12th Cyprus Wine Competition, Costas Kadis the Agriculture Minister of Cyprus praised the Cyprus wine industry’s efforts to restore the island country’s reputation on the international level. He added that to further the cause, a sum total of €23 million will be made available through the National Viticulture Support Programme from 2019 to 2023.

Mr. Kadis went on say how it is a state’s duty to support genuine efforts strengthen the wine sector, especially local ones, and how Cyprus, by fulfilling this duty allowed Cypriots to develop the local character of their wines, that are reflective of their country’s terroir.

The competition has 194 different wines from 36 wineries taking part in it – the largest to have taken part in the event. It is being considered landmark on account of its success in reflecting the uniqueness of Cypriot local wines. They managed to win an overall total of 5 Grand gold medals and 60 gold medals along with and 5 special mentions.

Cyprus, the island country has made its intentions known for participating in the bid to help in the reconstruction of Iraq. This happened during the recent trilateral meeting in Jordan, where the Iraqi foreign was present.

While the actual level of inclusion of Iraq is yet to be clear (according to geopolitical analyst Zenonas Tziarras), the intentions of Cyprus to utilize its ties with Jordan and gain access to construction contracts in Iraq certainly is, especially with Jordan already being actively involved with the reconstruction scene in Iraq.

Mr. Tziarras further speculatively suggested that Iran, having gained a good number of inroads to the Iraqi government, might also be seeking its own place among the trilaterals that currently include Egypt, Israel, Greece, Cyprus, and Jordan.

The meeting in question was held in Amman between the foreign ministers Iraq, Greece, Cyprus, and Jordan in order to discuss issues that concern trade, commerce and tourism cooperation. Also discussed was how Cyprus and Greece, could help in the Iraqi reconstruction, especially as part of the European Union.

Meanwhile, an Honorary Consul of Cyprus has been appointed in Iraq, with efforts being made by Cypriot construction companies to participate in said reconstruction process.

The island nation has been ranked 28th out of the 180 countries which are part of the International Organization Reporters Without Borders (RSF)-compiled 2019 World Press Freedom Index.

The country has gone down three spots from being the 25^th in 2018, and four spots from the 24^th place in 2013, which was its record ranking.

The RSF says that despite being constitutionally granted press freedom in Cyprus, the press is often heavily influenced by commercial parties, political parties, and the Orthodox Church, among other influential factors. The most pressing of these is the concern of the intolerance of most politicians to see themselves being criticized in the press. The organization cited the example of a voluntary glossary that was prepared by two Greek Cypriot and two Turkish Cypriot authors, which drew extended criticism from almost all politicians in Greek Cyprus, the President included. Furthermore, no attempt was made to follow-up on the rape and death threats issued to the authors.

The RSF also mentioned the issue of journalists being unable to report on Cyprus’ citizenship program to the best of their ability, given the resistance they receive from authorities when they do so, along with the unfavorable state reaction to Politis’ publishing of hacked emails between the Russian prosecutor-general’s office and Cypriot prosecutor Eleni Loizidou.

Meanwhile, press freedom has declined across the world as well – a worrying trend that continues to increase as the time passes.

According to the 2019 World Press Freedom Index, 11% countries have a serious situation when it comes to press freedom, 29% are said to be difficult with journalists, while another 37% have become and are becoming increasingly problematic.

Scandinavian countries continue to dominate the rankings, with Norway being ranked first three times in a row, Finland moving up by two places to take the second place; the Netherlands, which was formerly in the 2^nd is now occupying the 4^th position.

The bottom of the Index consists of Turkmenistan at the 180th place going down by two places, and North Korea at 179^th, having gone up one place.

Among recent deviant activity, cash and Items thousands of Euros have been reported stolen from a tourist in a shop in Larnaca.

The items belonged to a Palestinian woman, who had arrived from Jordan, and had left her handbag outside the changing room as she was trying clothes in said shop, located in central Larnaca. She found the bag disappeared upon coming back from the changing room.

The woman says that the bag contained some Israeli shekel, some Jordanian dinars, $2,160 and €1,600 in cash, along with mobile phones and rings collectively worth €3,000. The bag in question was itself worth €2,000.

So far, police action taken includes seizing of some items and evidence and collection of security camera footage, the latter of which will be checked to find the perpetrator.