CYPRUS: The Monastery of Kykkos

  

Cypriot foes unite to save ancient religious site

  

Turkey Provokes Greece and Cyprus Over Aegean Sea Rights

   

Kykkos Monastery in Cyprus Strapped for Finances

  

This is what passes for chic in Turkish-occupied Cyprus

 

 

The destruction of the Orthodox Cultural Heritage of Cyprus by Turkey

This short film, which was an initiative of the Committee of Cyprus Occupied Municipalities, portrays the destruction of the cultural heritage of Cyprus by Turkey that has been taking place in the northern part of Cyprus since the Turkish military invasion in 1974.

CYPRUS: Famagusta church 're-opens' - VIDEO

        

Hundreds flocked to the mediaeval Agios Georgios Eksorinos church in occupied Famagusta yesterday, for the first Greek Orthodox service in 56 years, described as the largest gathering of Greek-Cypriot faithful in a service held in the occupied territories since 1974.

TURKEY: Pilgrimage to Monastery Panagia Sumela by the football club of Apollo - Limassol, Cyprus PHOTO

Historic Monastery of Panagia Sumela in Trabzon - Turkey, visited a group of players and members of the board Apollon Limassol - Cyprus. 

Erdogan Now Calls for “One Cyprus”

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who earlier raised a lot of hackles when he said, “There is no country called Cyprus,” now says there is – and that it has to be one, unifying Cypriots with Turks who have occupied the norther third of the island since an unlawful invasion in 1974.

 

Erdogan has called for the involvement of Cyprus’s three guarantor powers – Greece, Turkey and the United Kingdom – in negotiations for a peace settlement, adding that the aim of all sides must be to create “one Cyprus,” he said.

Greece urges Turkey to withdraw forces from Cyprus

Greece has urged Turkey to comply with international law and to withdraw its occupying forces from Cyprus.

Sultan Erdogan - "There is no country named Cyprus," says Turkish PM

    

Cypriot and Greek government officials this week expressed shock and disappointment at claims by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan last Sunday that "there is no country named Cyprus" ahead of a fresh effort by the United Nations to broker a deal between the two communities on the divided island.

Biggest haul of looted church icons back in Cyprus

 

 

 

NICOSIA, Cyprus — The largest haul of looted, centuries-old church icons, frescoes and mosaics ever repatriated to Cyprus were officially welcomed Tuesday after a nearly four-decade journey.

Returned stolen artefacts on display at Byzantine Museum

 

 A ceremony was held on Tuesday at the Byzantine Museum next to the Archbishopric in Nicosia to mark the return of 173 religious artefacts stolen from the occupied areas in the north. The items have been repatriated after a long legal battle in Germany’s Munich. 

Archbishop of Cyprus Says His Country Should Quit EU

VLADIVOSTOK, March 31 (RIA Novosti) – Archbishop Chrysostomos II of Cyprus said his country should withdraw from the European Union as the EU will fall apart and cease to exist in the future.

“The economies of Spain, Portugal and Italy are currently in danger. And if the economy of Italy is destroyed just like our economy, the EU will not withstand,” Archbishop Chrysostomos said in an interview with Russia’s Channel One television channel.

“People who rule the European Union, and particularly those making decisions in the so-called troika, do not understand many things and it leads to the collapse of the EU. This is why I believe we [Cyprus] should withdraw from the union before the collapse takes place,” he added.

The finance ministers of the 17-nation euro area agreed on Monday on a 10-billion euro ($13-billion) deal for Cyprus to rescue the island nation and its outsized banking sector from a financial collapse. The new deal forces the holders of accounts of over 100,000 euros to take losses that could amount to 30-40 percent of their deposits.

The new deal is expected to yield some 4.2 billion euros to allow Cyprus, which is currently teetering on the brink of default, to obtain 10 billion euros in financial aid from the troika of international lenders. The so-called troika of creditors are the International Monetary Fund, the European Commission and the ECB.

Turkey Warns Against Israel-Cyprus Gas Deal

At Eurasian Economic Summit in Istanbul, Turkish envoy tells his Israeli counterpart that a potential Israel-Turkey gas pipeline could be squandered by Israeli partnership with Cyprus on natural gas.

Israel's energy cooperation with Cyprus would stand in the way of any proposed Israel-Turkey natural gas pipeline, Turkey's deputy minister for energy and natural resources told an Israeli emissary last week. The meeting took place at the Eurasian Economic Summit held in Istanbul, according to the Turkish newspaper.

Cyprus asks church for help with Russian loan

The leader of Cyprus' Orthodox Christian Church says the nation's cash-strapped government has asked him for help to persuade Russian authorities to agree to extend repayment of a (EURO)2.5 billion ($3.34 billion) loan.

 

Archbishop Chrysostomos II says he has asked Russian Patriarch Kirill to plead with the Kremlin to grant Cyprus an extension. Chrysostomos said Thursday he believes the effort will succeed.

The Cypriot and Russian churches follow the eastern Orthodox branch of Christianity.

Russia loaned Cyprus the money in 2011, when this country could no longer borrow from international markets.

Cyprus is supposed to pay the loan back by 2016, but it has officially asked for a five-year extension.

Cyprus is hoping to clinch a bailout from its euro partner countries and the International Monetary Fund by March.

CYPRUS: Church-state tensions bubble over

CHURCH AND state are once again at loggerheads over who’s more pitiful, just days after the president and archbishop stood side by side at the Nicosia hospital calling for greater optimism from the people. 

The latest spat began on New Year’s Day when Archbishop Chrysostomos II bemoaned the fact that no government representative showed up to the special service held at St Ioannis Church at the Archbishopric to welcome in the New Year.   

Speaking to reporters after the service, Chrysostomos noted the absence of the president and his cabinet from the service with some choice words. 

“Fortunately, some MPs, the army and police came, mitigating somewhat the shame of the present government. They are for pitying. I don’t want to say more. They get what they deserve,” said the spiritual leader of the Orthodox faithful in Cyprus.

Government spokesman Stefanos Stefanou responded the same day highlighting that the government did not receive any invitation this year to attend the doxology conducted by the Archbishop. 

“Every time the government receives an invite from the Archbishopric, the government responds positively and had no reason not to do so in this case. 

“We regret though that the primate of the Church chose (Tuesday), the first day of the year, to once again attack the government,” said Stefanou, adding that Chrysostomos “unfortunately, does not miss an opportunity to verbally abuse the government. And if a mistake was made on this matter, the archbishop is not allowed to offend the state in this way, and indeed, a secular, bicommunal state that Cyprus is”.  

Not one to hold back, President Demetris Christofias yesterday waded in to the spat during an AKEL event in Nicosia to welcome in the New Year, accusing the archbishop of belonging to the group of bankers and businesspeople responsible for the current economic mess Cyprus is in. 

“The Primate of the Church cannot be excluded from this group of entrepreneurs and bankers. And I say this fully conscious of what I am saying,” he said. 

“This year, an invitation was not sent, like every other year when even a reminder was sent, and it seems to me, my devious mind is led to the conclusion that perhaps not sending the invitation had a purpose. 

“In any case, the first day of the year after the doxology is not the time for Church primates to speak in the way that the archbishop has spoken. I am sincerely sorry for that,” added Christofias. 

The president highlighted to the church leader: “We do not have a theocratic state.” 

He described the primate’s penchant for public interventions on political matters as “doubly unacceptable”.  

“Our differences with his Holiness are not philosophical, and I want to make that clear. I fully respect the Church and have very friendly relations with many clerics,” said Christofias, adding that their differences were “clearly political”.

Merkel Confronts Growing Skepticism on Bailout Aid to Cyp

Chancellor Angela Merkel confronted a growing chorus of skepticism from inside and outside Germany’s coalition on bailout financing for Cyprus, possibly endangering her majority among lawmakers who will have to approve any aid.

 

Rainer Bruederle, the parliamentary leader for Merkel’s Free Democratic coalition partner, told Bild newspaper he sees no majority in the lower house as long as German taxpayers have the impression that they’re bolstering tax evaders. He echoed statements from opposition Social Democratic Chairman Sigmar Gabriel, who told Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper the SPD won’t support a Cyprus bailout in its current form. 

“There are too many question marks surrounding Cyprus,” Bruederle told Bild in an interview yesterday. “From what is known currently, I don’t see a majority for financial aid.”

The roadblock to the latest bailout in the debt crisis could hamper euro-area finance ministers already squabbling with the International Monetary Fund on how to help the Mediterranean island nation. The package, which could match the size of Cyprus’s 18-billion-euro ($23.5 billion) economy, will have to keep the country afloat while assuaging northern European skeptics bracing for the fifth euro-region rescue program in three years.

Merkel signaled that a final decision on Cyprus could be held up. Euro finance ministers who had aimed to lock in a deal this month may delay it until March, after the country’s presidential election next month, Handelsblatt reported.

‘Long Way’

“There can’t be special conditions for Cyprus, we have the same rules throughout Europe,” Merkel said in Berlin yesterday after meeting with Maltese Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi. “We’re a long way from the end of the talks.”

Cyprus’s government believes the nation’s debt will ultimately be sustainable, spokesman Stefanos Stefanou said yesterday in comments posted on the Cyprus government website.

Euro ministers are awaiting the results of next month’s presidential elections in Cyprus, after which President Demetris Christofias leaves office, according to Handelsblatt. Christofias has rejected proposals to sell off state assets.

Merkel will join European allies at a gathering of conservative party leaders in the Cypriot port city of Limassol tomorrow. She has no plans to meet members of the government, Steffen Seibert, Merkel’s chief spokesman, told reporters in Berlin yesterday.

Euro ministers are at loggerheads over Cyprus with the IMF, which wants Cypriot banks to be recapitalized directly from bailout funds, according to Handelsblatt. In Germany, SPD Chairman Gabriel was among German politicians attacking euro member state support of the Cypriot banks.

“At this stage, I can’t imagine that German taxpayers will rescue Cypriot banks whose business models are based on abetting tax fraud,” Gabriel told Sueddeutsche Zeitung.

CYPRUS: Egyptian ambassador slaps Cyprus airport officer (VIDEO)

Egyptian ambassador to Cyprus, Menha Mahrous Bakhoum, has appeared in a video swearing at and slapping a police officer at Larnaca airport, claiming she was subject to verbal and physical humiliation by airport security despite her diplomatic standing.

The incident reportedly took place on Saturday. A day later Cyprus Foreign Minister Erato Kozakou Marcoullis officially apologized to the Egyptian ambassador, according to Cyprus Mail. 

Ambassador Bakhoum was at the airport to see off her family and she wanted to escort them beyond the passport control. A female police officer then asked her to remove her boots, but the Egyptian diplomat refused, prompting a dispute. 

Ambassador Bakhoum then acted by slapping the police officer, resulting in her being manhandled by a group of male officers. They dragged her to a separate room in a bid to calm tempers.

Efforts to contain the situation, however, failed when ambassador Bakhoum reportedly grabbed the wig of a senior officer in protest at her detention, according to Cyprus Mail.

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs expresses publicly and sincerely its regrets and apologies for the treatment of the ambassador, which was not in conformity with the principle of inviolability of the person and respect of diplomatic representatives,” Cyprus Foreign Minister Marcoullis said in a statement. 

The EU's airport regulations allow only a few heads of states and governments to pass beyond security checks. Diplomats and evens Cabinet ministers have to go through regular security scrutinies.

Turkey's EU minister mocks Greek Cyprus’ finance crisis

EU Minister Egemen Bağış has mocked Greek Cyprus over the current economic crisis it is experiencing, arguing the situation is thought-provoking in terms of the European Union’s foundation philosophy.

“It is really thought-provoking that a country that possesses the bloc’s rotating presidency is in a position to declare its bankruptcy in terms of the European Union’s founding philosophy. But the position of Greek Cyprus does not make [Turkey] happy. To hit the country when it’s down has no place in our culture. God help them,” Bağış said yesterday in the southwestern province of Muğla.

Underlining that the improving Turkish Cyprus is ready to help the south, the minister said the Greek Cypriot administration could get loan from the north just as it gets its electricity and water when they need it.

“If Christofias is anxious over the economic crisis and wants to apply to Turkish Cyprus we are ready to lend a hand to Greek Cypriots as their neighbor. Probably Greek Cyprus sees the cost of blocking Turkey’s EU membership. If they would accept the Annan Plan then a ‘united Cyprus’ would be one of the prosperous country in the world,” Bağış said.

The economic crisis was a result of non-logical obstinacy of Greek Cypriots, Bağış said adding he hoped upcoming elections in February would pave the way for an administration that takes into account the principle of political equality of the two communities.