NICOSIA: Voters in the Turkish-held north of Cyprus, a breakaway state recognized only by Ankara, voted Sunday for a new leader amid charges of interference by Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The presidential vote in the self-proclaimed Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus was held amid heightened tensions on the divided island and in the wider eastern Mediterranean.
The election in the TRNC pits the incumbent and favorite, Mustafa Akinci, who supports the eventual reunification of Cyprus as an EU member, against nationalist Ersin Tatar, who is backed by Erdogan.
“This election is crucial for our destiny,” Akinci said after casting his ballot, likening the effect of alleged Turkish political meddling to the impact the COVID-19 pandemic has had on public health.
The vote comes three days after Turkish troops angered the Republic of Cyprus, an EU member, and many Turkish Cypriots by reopening public access to the fenced-off seaside ghost town of Varosha for the first time since Turkish forces invaded the north in 1974.
That move sparked demonstrations in the majority Greek-speaking Republic of Cyprus, which exercises its authority over the island’s southern two thirds, separated from the north by a UN-patrolled buffer zone.
Almost 200,0000 of the about 300,000 residents are registered to vote in the TRNC, which was established after the north of the island was occupied by Turkey in reaction to a coup to annex Cyprus to Greece.
One voter, Esat Tulek, aged 73 and a retired public servant, said the election was important because “we’re actually choosing the president who will be negotiating with the Greek Cypriots about the future of Cyprus.”
The election comes amid tensions in the eastern Mediterranean over the planned exploitation of hydrocarbons between Turkey on the one hand, and Greece as well as its close ally Cyprus on the other.
Erdogan announced on Tuesday, together with Tatar, the partial reopening of Varosha, a beachside resort that once drew Hollywood stars before it was abandoned by its Greek-Cypriot inhabitants during the Turkish invasion.
The move to allow visitors back into the abandoned and overgrown area was condemned by Akinci and other candidates, who saw it as Turkish interference in the election.
It was also heavily criticized by the Republic of Cyprus, the European Union and the United Nations, whose peacekeepers monitor the 180-kilometer (112-mile) buffer zone across the island.
Kemal Baykalli, founder of the non-government group Unite Cyprus Now, told AFP that “the main issue of this election is how we will define our relationship with Turkey.”
Eleven candidates are in the running, and the front-runner is Akinci, 72, a Social Democrat who favors loosening ties with Ankara, which has earned him the hostility of Erdogan.
“There are two situations that are not normal,” Akinci said after voting. “One is about our health, there is a pandemic.
“And the second one is our political health, communal health, and I’m talking here about the intervention of Turkey,” which he accused of using their facilities in TRNC “like an election office.”
The negotiations aimed at reunification stalled during Akinci’s term of office, notably on the question of the withdrawal of tens of thousands of Turkish soldiers stationed in the TRNC.
Turkey supports the nationalist Tatar, 60, currently “prime minister” of the breakaway north, who on Sunday insisted to reporters that “the TRNC and its people form a state.”
“We deserve to live on the basis of equal sovereignty,” Tatar said to applause from his supporters.
Yektan Turkyilmaz, a researcher at the Berlin-based Forum Transregionale Studien, said many Turkish Cypriots felt “wounded in their honor and identity” by what they considered to be interference from Ankara.
Another voter, Aysin Demirag, a 59-year-old yoga teacher, said the Varosha reopening, “under pressure from Turkey, organized as a show with days to go before the elections, was really a bad decision.”
The election is being held amid an economic crisis, deepened by the pandemic, which has largely shuttered the tourism sector and led to the closure of Ercan airport in north Nicosia and the crossing points to the south of the island.
Voting at 738 polling stations, held with precautions against the spread of COVID-19, was to close at 6:00 p.m. (1500 GMT), with result due to be released in the evening.
If no candidate wins at least 50 percent of the vote, the two leading candidates will face off in a second round on October 18.
Turkish Cypriots vote for new leader amid east Med tensions
https://arab.news/yfc3v
Turkish Cypriots vote for new leader amid east Med tensions
- If no candidate wins 50% of the vote, they will face off in a 2nd round
- The vote comes 3 days after Turkish troops angered Cyprus
UK MPs demand Ukraine-style visa route for Gazans
- Letter to PM: ‘The same generosity should be extended to Palestinian families’
- Death toll ‘likely to be exponentially higher’ than official figure due to collapse of local govt, health systems
LONDON: MPs in the UK are calling on the government to launch a visa system for Palestinians in Gaza with family already living in Britain.
Sixty-seven politicians have written to Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Home Secretary Yvette Cooper asking for a Gaza Family Scheme mirroring the Ukraine Family Scheme established in 2022 to help refugees escape the war with Russia. It allowed Ukrainians to live and work in the UK for up to three years.
“We believe that the same generosity should be extended to Palestinian families,” said the letter, seen by Sky News.
Signatories include 35 Labour MPs and members of the House of Lords, as well as several people currently suspended from the governing party, including its former leader Jeremy Corbyn and former Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell.
All four sitting members of the Green Party have also signed, alongside former Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron and the Bishop of Chelmsford Dr. Guli Francis-Dehquani.
The letter accuses Israel of “shattering the temporary ceasefire agreement” with Hamas in Gaza, and of conducting a “campaign of bombardment and military assaults, and targeting of people accessing humanitarian aid.”
MP Marsha de Cordova, who helped organize the letter alongside the Gaza Families Reunited campaign, told Sky News that the Ukraine visa scheme “was the right response to a brutal war,” and that establishing one for Gazans “would be an extension of those same principles, showing that this government is steadfast in its commitment to helping families experiencing the worst horrors of war.
“It is time for the government to act now to help British Palestinians get their loved ones to safety, enabling them to rebuild their lives.”
The letter said the proposed scheme would let Palestinians reunite with “people they may never see again unless urgent action is taken,” and many Gazans trying to reach the UK “struggled to navigate the immigration system.”
It added that efforts to secure visas have been made “impossible due to the destruction of the visa application centre in Gaza and blockade of the Rafah crossing.”
The letter said the death toll in Gaza, reported by Palestinian authorities as numbering at least 53,000 people, “is likely to be exponentially higher” due to the collapse of local government and health systems in the enclave.
Ghassan Ghaben, spokesperson for Gaza Families Reunited, told Sky News: “Family unity is an undeniable human right.”
He urged more MPs, including Conservatives, to add their names to efforts to help get Palestinians to the UK, saying: “We are still waiting for the new government to do the right thing. We, as Palestinians in the UK, simply want the opportunity to bring our loved ones from Gaza to safety, until it is safe to return.”
A government spokesperson told Sky News: “The death and destruction in Gaza is intolerable. Since day one, we have been clear that we need to see an immediate ceasefire, the release of all hostages cruelly detained by Hamas, better protection of civilians, significantly more aid consistently entering Gaza, and a path to long-term peace and stability.
“There are a range of routes available for Palestinians who wish to join family members in the UK.”
Israel steps up Gaza bombardment ahead of White House talks on ceasefire
- Israel’s Dermer due in US for talks on Gaza, Iran, wider deals
- Israeli tanks push into Gaza City suburb, residents say
CAIRO/JERUSALEM: Palestinians in northern Gaza reported one of the worst nights of Israeli bombardment in weeks after the military issued mass evacuation orders on Monday, while Israeli officials were due in Washington for a new ceasefire push by the Trump administration.
A day after US President Donald Trump urged an end to the 20-month-old war, a confidant of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was expected at the White House for talks on a Gaza ceasefire, Iran, and possible wider regional diplomatic deals.
But on the ground in the Palestinian enclave there was no sign of fighting letting up.
“Explosions never stopped; they bombed schools and homes. It felt like earthquakes,” said Salah, 60, a father of five children, from Gaza City. “In the news we hear a ceasefire is near, on the ground we see death and we hear explosions.”
Israeli tanks pushed into the eastern areas of Zeitoun suburb in Gaza City and shelled several areas in the north, while aircraft bombed at least four schools after ordering hundreds of families sheltering inside to leave, residents said.
At least 38 people were killed in Israeli strikes on Monday, health authorities said, including 10 people killed in Zeitoun and at least 13 killed southwest of Gaza City. Medics said most of the 13 were hit by gunfire, but residents also reported an airstrike.
The Israeli military said it struck militant targets in northern Gaza, including command and control centers, after taking steps to mitigate the risk of harming civilians.
There was no immediate word from Israel on the reported casualties southwest of Gaza City.
The heavy bombardment followed new evacuation orders to vast areas in the north, where Israeli forces had operated before and left behind wide-scale destruction. The military ordered people there to head south, saying that it planned to fight Hamas militants operating in northern Gaza, including in the heart of Gaza City.
NEXT STEPS
A day after Trump called to “Make the deal in Gaza, get the hostages back,” Israel’s strategic affairs minister Ron Dermer, a confidant of Netanyahu’s, was expected on Monday at the White House for talks on Iran and Gaza, an Israeli official said.
In Israel, Netanyahu’s security cabinet was expected to convene to discuss the next steps in Gaza.
On Friday, Israel’s military chief said the present ground operation was close to having achieved its goals, and on Sunday, Netanyahu said new opportunities had opened up for recovering the hostages, 20 of whom are believed to still be alive.
Palestinian and Egyptian sources with knowledge of the latest ceasefire efforts said that mediators Qatar and Egypt have stepped up their contacts with the two warring sides, but that no date has been set yet for a new round of truce talks.
A Hamas official said that progress depends on Israel changing its position and agreeing to end the war and withdraw from Gaza. Israel says it can end the war only when Hamas is disarmed and dismantled. Hamas refuses to lay down its arms.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said that Israel has agreed to a US-proposed 60-day ceasefire and hostage deal, and put the onus on Hamas.
“Israel is serious in its will to reach a hostage deal and ceasefire in Gaza,” Saar told reporters in Jerusalem.
Austrian Foreign Minister Beate Meinl-Reisinger, speaking in Jerusalem on Monday alongside her Israeli counterpart, told reporters that Vienna was very concerned about the humanitarian situation in Gaza, which she described as “unbearable.”
“Let me be frank, the suffering of civilians is increasingly burdening Israel’s relations with Europe. A ceasefire must be agreed upon,” she said, calling for the unconditional release of hostages by Hamas and for Israel to allow the uninterrupted flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza.
Israel says it continues to allow aid into Gaza and accuses Hamas of stealing it. The group denies that accusation and says Israel uses hunger as a weapon against the Gaza population.
The US has proposed a 60-day ceasefire and the release of half the hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners and the remains of other Palestinians. Hamas would release the remaining hostages as part of a deal that guarantees ending the war.
The war began when Hamas fighters stormed into Israel on October 7 2023, killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and took 251 hostages back to Gaza in a surprise attack that led to Israel’s single deadliest day.
Israel’s subsequent military assault has killed more than 56,000 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to the Gaza health ministry, displaced almost the whole 2.3 million population and plunged the enclave into a humanitarian crisis.
More than 80 percent of the territory is now an Israeli-militarized zone or under displacement orders, according to the United Nations.
No injuries or pollution after explosion at oil tanker off Libya, says operator
- The Marshall Islands-flagged tanker Vilamoura had left Libya’s Zuetina port and was en route to Gibraltar
ATHENS: An oil tanker carrying about 1 million barrels of crude oil suffered an explosion off Libya on June 27 but no injuries or pollution were reported, a spokesperson for the operator TMS Tankers said on Monday.
The Marshall Islands-flagged tanker Vilamoura had left Libya’s Zuetina port and was en route to Gibraltar when there was an explosion in the engine room, the operator said.
The vessel is now being towed to Greece where it is expected to arrive by July 2, it added.
Israel FM says Golan to ‘remain part of’ Israel in any Syria peace deal
- Golan Heights “will remain part of” Israel under any potential peace agreement with Syria, Israel's FM says
JERUSALEM: Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said Monday that the occupied Golan Heights “will remain part of” Israel under any potential peace agreement with Syria.
“In any peace agreement, the Golan will remain part of the State of Israel,” Saar told a news conference in Jerusalem, referring to the territory Israel seized from Syria in 1967 and later annexed in a move not recognized by the United Nations.
Iranian ambassador: Saudi Arabia played key role in preventing escalation
RIYADH: Nearly two years after Iran and Saudi Arabia restored diplomatic relations, Iran’s Ambassador to the Kingdom, Dr. Alireza Enayati, praised Riyadh’s role in reducing tensions and fostering dialogue.
Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat, Enayati described the progress as “equivalent to achievements that typically take years,” underscoring what he called the “deep roots and substance” of the relationship.
Enayati, who first served in Saudi Arabia as Iran’s consul in Jeddah in 1990 and later as chargé d’affaires in Riyadh, returned in 2023 as ambassador following the March agreement brokered by China to resume ties after seven years of rupture.
Commenting on recent Israeli strikes against Iran, Enayati called the attacks “blatant aggression,” noting that they took place while Tehran was engaged in indirect negotiations with Washington.
“Iran was attacked in the middle of the night, while people slept in their homes. It was our legitimate right under the UN Charter to respond decisively and demonstrate that while Iran does not seek war, it will defend itself with strength and resolve,” he said.
He emphasized that regional reactions to the escalation highlighted a spirit of solidarity.
“The first call our Foreign Minister received was from Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan, condemning the attacks, followed by a statement from the Saudi Foreign Ministry,” he noted. “These positions were crowned by a phone call from His Royal Highness Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to President Pezeshkian, expressing condemnation and solidarity, followed by President Pezeshkian’s call back to the Crown Prince and statements of support from several Gulf states.”
Enayati commended Riyadh’s efforts to de-escalate the crisis, describing Saudi Arabia’s role as “honorable” and “blessed.” He added, “In all our bilateral discussions, Iran has acknowledged the Kingdom’s constructive stance and its efforts to prevent further aggression. We welcome any role by our Saudi brothers, especially His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed, who has always stood by us.”
The ambassador pointed to the revival of travel and religious exchange as a sign of rapprochement. “This year alone, over 200,000 Iranians have performed Umrah, and when including Hajj pilgrims, the number exceeds 400,000 visitors to the Kingdom - an extremely positive indicator,” he said.
Enayati also highlighted the recent visit of Saudi Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman to Tehran, describing it as a “historic turning point” that shifted relations from routine to strategic. “The visit and the meetings with President Pezeshkian and the Supreme Leader left a strong impression that we are partners in building regional stability,” he said.
While acknowledging significant progress, Enayati stressed that economic and trade relations still require more effort. “We have agreements on trade, investment, culture, and youth reaffirmed in the Beijing accord,” he said, adding that talks are under way on agreements to avoid double taxation, promote mutual investment, and develop overland transport corridors linking Saudi Arabia and its neighbors to Central Asia.
Responding to criticism that Iran plays a destabilizing role, Enayati said: “We are not outsiders imposing our presence. We are part of the region, its people, and its culture. Differences in political perspectives do not erase our shared bonds. Dialogue is the only path forward, and there is no substitute.”
He concluded by emphasizing that genuine regional security must be anchored in development and economic cooperation rather than military competition. “When security moves beyond weapons and geopolitics to focus on prosperity and shared progress, everyone benefits,” he said.
