YUSUF KANLI

Rosette on the lapel… YUSUF KANLI

Rosette on the lapel…

Semantic symbolism and body language are very important particularly in this part of the world. How one sits at a meeting, why he holds a baseball baton in his hand while talking on the phone, or why he removes the flag of his country from the reception room before meeting with a foreign dignitary are all indicative of not only the mood of the people involved but more so the color of relations between the countries participating in any such event.

November 04 2020
Earthquake is not destiny... YUSUF KANLI

Earthquake is not destiny...

Sığacık, Seferihisar, İzmir... We have all fallen into great pain together.

November 03 2020
Cartoons and beyond... YUSUF KANLI

Cartoons and beyond...

Most of the time reality and perception; principles, norms and realpolitik might not necessarily complement each other. On the contrary might indeed head-on collide.

October 30 2020
Tatar: Federation is dead and buried YUSUF KANLI

Tatar: Federation is dead and buried

Ersin Tatar, the new President of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), has given a message to Ankara, which was not surprising or out of the blues. In two sentences, we can sum up all that he said: “The Federation is dead and buried. We have not been able to live together, we have not reconciled in more than 50 years of talks, and now it is time to discuss how we can live side by side in two separate states.”

October 28 2020
A Turco-Greek Schuman declaration YUSUF KANLI

A Turco-Greek Schuman declaration

Recently, in an article for the Hürriyet Daily News, an eminent academic, activist, thought provoker and chairman of the Turkish Economy Policies Foundation (TEPAV), wrote an article titled “A Schuman Plan for Cyprus.” It was not the first time the idea came about. Germany’s “bridge building” efforts concerning the rising tensions in eastern Mediterranean between Turkey and Greece, France, Greek Cypriots and the rest have been brought to the forefront once again.

October 21 2020
Now it’s Tatar’s time... YUSUF KANLI

Now it’s Tatar’s time...

A very tiresome period ended in Turkish Cyprus. Mustafa Akıncı, the “empathy with the Greek Cypriots” expert, lost the Oct. 18 elections. It was Akıncı who eroded almost all Turkish Cypriot red lines in the Cyprus talks. It was he, in more than 60 years of history of the Cyprus talks, who gave a map to the Greek side on territorial concessions for the first time without feeling the need to consult with the Turkish Cypriot government and parliament or with the Ankara government. It was he who said that Turkey’s guarantor status was not “sine qua non” and could be substituted with an international force.

October 19 2020
Crucial Sunday for Cyprus YUSUF KANLI

Crucial Sunday for Cyprus

After the Oct. 11 inconclusive first vote, two frontrunners of the first round will contest this Sunday for the seat of the president of the Northern Cyprus. One of them is incumbent socialist Mustafa Akıncı, a pro-federalist and the other is conservative National unity Party (UBP) leader and prime minister, Ersin Tatar, a supporter of a two-state settlement on the island.

October 15 2020
A rematch of 2015 YUSUF KANLI

A rematch of 2015?

The presidential election of Turkish Cyprus could not be completed in the first round as expected, and as predicted, in many opinion polls, the winners of the first round were prime minister and National Unity Party chairman, Ersin Tatar, with 32.36 percent of the votes, and the current President Mustafa Akıncı, an independent candidate, with 29.8 percent of the votes. Now the question is, who will emerge victorious in the Oct. 18 run-off vote and who will assume the responsibility and the chair of the presidency?

October 12 2020
Will it help Tatar YUSUF KANLI

Will it help Tatar? 

Heavy construction equipment, a Turkish ambassador, top generals of the Turkish Cypriot Security Forces and the Turkish Peace Force Command, the Famagusta mayor and the propaganda chief of the National Unity Party were waiting at the entrance of a long-deserted boulevard along a coast for news from Ankara.

October 07 2020