Cyprus Updates

Israeli and Turkish Fighter Jet dogfight over Cyprus

admin — Thu, 17 May 2012 17:44:28 +0000

Turkey has made a formal complaint to what they call a violation of the Northern Cyprus airspace by an Israeli F15 fighter jet on Monday 14th. According to the Turkish news agency Anadoulu citing Turkish diplomatic sources a telegram was sent demanding explanation for this action. During the time of the ‘violation’, two F16 fighters were sent to patrol the area and prevent the Israeli plane from continuing its course. To this time, Israel has not responded to the accusations while according to sources when the Israeli pilot was asked via radio to leave the airspace, responded saying that he is flying over the Republic of Cyprus airspace and he has the appropriate permission to do so.

The Cyprus Presidency Logo – Original or Copy?

admin — Tue, 15 May 2012 08:24:45 +0000

Last week the official logo of the Cyprus Presidency of the European Union Council was revealed to the public in a ceremony at the newly renovated Media Center in Nicosia (formerly International Conference Centre). The logo which can be seen above was described as a ship with colourful sails steering into a new destination, the heart of Europe, a turning point for Cyprus. The ship’s hull was made in the shape of a dove reflecting to the emblem of The Republic of Cyprus. It was chosen among many in a private competition and the winning logo was designed by a well known design company in Cyprus.

It now appears that possibly the design was not completely original work or at least a similar design was made before. The design, which can be seen below, is available for purchase at the popular stock photography and artwork website ShutterStock for a mere 8 euro. There is numerous similarities even in the description but we’ll let you be the judge.

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

Cyprus is one of the most religious countries in the world

admin — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 10:40:48 +0000

A study of religious belief in 30 countries, conducted by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago has shown among other things, that Cyprus is one of the most religious nations in the world. Countries with low atheism, and strong religious belief tend to be Catholic societies especially in the developing world, with the exceptions of United States, Israel and Cyprus. The study has also shown that belief in God grows the older people get; it was found that 43% of those over 68 years of age are certain that God exists while only 23% of people under 27 are strong believers. In the past two decades belief in God has faced a modest decline worldwide except in Israel, Slovenia and especially Russia where 16% of atheists turned believers.

Cyprus now tops the list of the riskiest sovereign credit

admin — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 17:16:51 +0000

According to findings of the Credit Information Specialist CMA covering the first quarter or 2012, Cyprus is now ranking as the number one nation in the list of countries who might not be able to pay their debts in the next five years. Cyprus, which made it in the list for the first time ever has replaced Greece in the top position of the riskiest sovereign credit in the world and has the highest probability of a default. Cyprus is closely followed by Portugal while Greece is no longer in the top ten as a result of its debt restructuring efforts. According to Sigmalive news, a source at the Ministry of Finance, said that this weakness of the Cypriot economy is a result of the size of the banking sector which if required to be placed under a support mechanism will be a substantial financial burden on the government. The same source also added that the percentages allocated are based on statistical assumptions and that the value given to Cyprus is to cover all possible scenarios in the next five years.

Stricter measures at the Green Line crossings

admin — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 17:54:36 +0000

It appears that Turkish Cypriot occupation authorities are becoming stricter in regard to people crossing the Green Line. It’s been reported that now Turkish Cypriots crossing into the Republic of Cyprus controlled areas are subjected to extra checks which in some cases included full body search. Under the new ‘regulation’ every person crossing to the free areas must present himself to the regime ‘police’ to receive a document allowing his passage. This includes passengers and drivers of vehicles crossing, which has become a reason for extra delays since they have to get off their vehicles for the check. It should be noted that everyday thousands of Turkish Cypriots cross to the free areas for work, shopping and recreational activities.

Greek Cypriots spending millions in the occupied areas & Turkey

admin — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 07:34:33 +0000

According to information made public yesterday by the Cypriot credit card clearing house JCC, Greek Cypriot expenditure in the occupied areas sums up to millions of euros. During the first three months of 2012, at least 2621 Greek Cypriots travelled to Turkey via the occupied areas aboard Turkish or Turkish Cypriot airlines through the illegal Ercan airport. During that period 556000 euro was spent by credit card for purchases of airline tickets while more than one million euro was spent in casinos and other entertainment. More than 300000 euro was spent for shopping including clothing, supermarket and other household goods while over 700000 were spent at hotels.

Keep in mind that these figures don’t take into account cash payments but only expenditure made using credit cards meaning the actual values are much higher.

When you thought electricity prices were already high..

admin — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 07:40:11 +0000

According to an article in today’s issue of Politis newspaper there will be an additional increase in the price of electricity because of yesterdays blackout. The article is based on a statement by the director general of EAC Stelios Stylianou who stated that an announcement will be made today regarding the reasons for the blackout. For the time being it is thought to have been caused by a disruption of the connection from the electricity network in the occupied areas. The final word regarding a possible increase will be decided by the Cyprus Energy Regulatory Authority in order to accommodate for the increased demand of the summer months by either operating all units at the Vasiliko power station, or reconnecting to the network of the occupied areas or buying new more expensive generators.

BBC Documentary for Cyprus Division ‘The Green Line’ (Video)

admin — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 12:21:55 +0000

This documentary was broadcasted in 1985 (11 years after Cyprus was divided) and explains what led to the 1974 events from an objective point of view. Please watch and post your comments!

Snow in Nicosia (Video Collection)

admin — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 14:19:44 +0000

Snowing in Nicosia. A very rare phenomenon.

Nicosia A Timelapse (Full HD Video)

admin — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 09:56:42 +0000

An excellent time-lapse video of scenes from Nicosia.

Video by Alex Cican.

Timelapse on wikipedia.