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151. Athens and Istanbul can do their part

During one of the deepest troughs in bilateral relations in the fall of 1999 following the arrest of Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan, Greece and Turkey went from being on the brink of war to a rapprochement, spearheaded by their foreign ministers, George Papandreou and the late Ismail Cem....

152. FBI app nails fugitive once caught in Cyprus

Cyprus was back in the headlines after new court records showed how a suspected drug lord, who evaded capture on the island a decade ago, unwittingly distributed an FBI app to his associates resulting to hundreds of arrests around the world...

153. Erdogan calls on Greek Istanbulites to return

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has told Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and others that he welcomes the return of Istanbulite Greeks back to their ancestral homes...

154. Europe must get off the sofa

Everything we learnt from what took place in the presidential palace, and then from Brussels, reinforced the image of a weak, if not anemic Europe...

155. EC head taken aback as Erdogan and Michel snap up the chairs

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen was taken aback to find her fellow top EU official taking the only chair available next to Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan when the duo visited Ankara, and her spokesman made that clear on Wednesday....

156. Borrell determined to carry out EUCO mandate on Turkey

President of the Republic Nicos Anastasiades said clarifications about the EU’s role at the informal conference of Cyprus set to take place in Geneva in late April may arise after the visit expected to be paid to Turkey by EU officials....

157. Germany: Turkey sending wrong human rights signals

Turkey is sending the wrong messages to the European Union by withdrawing from a pact designed to counter violence against women and closing down the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas warned on Monday....

158. Greece and Turkey resume exploratory talks

Exploratory contacts between Greece and Turkey are set to resume in Istanbul, with Ankara trying to gain an upper hand over the agenda and Athens appearing to have low expectations citing disagreement on both sides on what to discuss...

159. Turkey and Greece to resume talks

Turkey and Greece will resume talks aimed at reducing tensions between the neighbors on Jan. 25, Turkish and Greek officials announced Monday, following this summer’s dispute over maritime borders and energy rights in the eastern Mediterranean...

160. Bishop apologises over reporter incident

Bishop Nikiforos of Kykkos, who told a reporter to “shut up” on Wednesday as cameras were rolling, has issued an apology, saying he regretted his behaviour, with the incident revealing tensions remain high over the Ukrainian issue...

161. Domestic violence figures maintain concerning climb

The police’s domestic violence unit received 180 complaints in September and October and made 29 arrests, justice minister Emily Yioliti said Wednesday. Meanwhile, the association for the prevention and handling of violence in the family (SPAVO) said it has marked an increase of 40% in calls received at the 1440 helpline....

162. ‘Our miracle’: Girl in Turkey rescued four days after deadly quake

A young girl was rescued from the rubble of a collapsed building in the western Turkish city of Izmir on Tuesday, more than 90 hours after a deadly earthquake which killed at least 107 people...

163. Rare show of solidarity after deadly quake

The leaders of Turkey and Greece communicated a rare sense of solidarity to each other in the wake of a deadly earthquake in the Aegean, felt in both Athens and Istanbul...

164. Carrot-and-stick approach to Turkey failing, EU envoys say

The European Union's latest strategy to defuse tensions with Turkey is unravelling, two weeks after it was sealed, raising the risk of conflict in the Eastern Mediterranean, diplomats, officials and experts said....

165. Greek and Turkish warships in 'mini collision,' says defense source

A Greek and a Turkish warship were involved in a mini-collision on Wednesday during a standoff in the eastern Mediterranean, a Greek defense source said, describing it as an "accident."...

166. Church bells toll for Hagia Sophia

Archbishop of Cyprus Chrysostomos has ordered church bells across the island to ring on Friday, marking what he described as a “criminal conversion of Hagia Sophia into a mosque"...

167. Greek-Turkish ties come under strain

The already tense relationship between Greece and Turkey has been strained further in the wake of Ankara’s leaking of a supposedly secret meeting between Greek, Turkish and German officials following Turkey’s controversial decision to convert Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia into a mosque and amid an increasingly aggressive Turkish stance in the East Mediterranean. The already tense relationship between Greece and Turkey has been strained further in the wake of Ankara’s leaking of a supposedly secret meeting between Greek, Turkish and German officials following Turkey’s controversial decision to convert Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia into a mosque and amid an increasingly aggressive Turkish stance in the East Mediterranean. ...

168. Berlin bridge-building effort undermined by Ankara

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on Tuesday revealed that a secret trilateral meeting between Turkish, German and Greek officials, mediated by Berlin, took place ahead of the European Union Foreign Affairs Council on Monday in the wake of Turkey’s controversial decision to convert Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia into a mosque. ...

169. Cyprus among five countries that present UNSG with note verbale on Tukey-Libya MoU

Cyprus, Bahrain, Egypt, Greece and Saudi Arabia have presented a note verbale to the UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterrres, outlining the reasons why the Memorandum of Understanding signed between the Government of the Republic of Turkey and the Government of National Accord of Libya on the delimitation of maritime jurisdiction areas in the Mediterranean in Istanbul on 27 November 2019 should not be registered by the UN Secretariat in the list of international treaties....

170. As EU mulls sanctions, Turkey defiant

The European Union is seeking ways of imposing sanctions on Turkey in the event that its transgressions in the East Mediterranean are scaled up, and in the wake of its decision to convert Hagia Sophia into a mosque. ...

171. Harsh words for Turkey from archbishop

Archbishop of Cyprus Chrysostomos has slammed Turkey over the country’s decision to allow Hagia Sophia to revert from museum back to mosque status, accusing Turks of having no respect for the civilized world...

172. Turkish court rules to let Hagia Sophia return as mosque

173. Divided Cyprus reacts to Hagia Sophia

Cyprus has weighed in on Turkey’s controversial decision to allow Muslim prayer inside Hagia Sophia, with different reactions across the divided island and amid reports of nuanced differences in President Erdogan's statements in two different languages...

174. US ambassador sees opportunities in Cyprus

US Ambassador to Nicosia Judy Garber says the pandemic aftermath in Cyprus could be seen as an opportunity for the island, praising officials for managing the crisis and calling the country a “fantastic place for people” to do business...

175. Hagia Sophia mosque conversion verdict expected within 15 days, says report

A verdict on whether Hagia Sophia in Istanbul will be converted into a mosque is to be issued within 15 days, Turkey’s Daily Sabah reported Thursday....

176. North restores connectivity with Turkey but locals uneasy

Connectivity between the north and Turkey was officially restored on Wednesday against the backdrop of heightened concern by a large portion of the Turkish Cypriot community in view of Turkey’s post-lockdown coronavirus relapse....

177. North sending mixed signals over opening to Turkey on July 1

The Turkish Cypriot administration was giving off mixed signals over plans to restore connectivity with Turkey on July 1, with head of the administration Ersin Tatar stating Thursday it had decided to stick to the decision and double-check arrivals for the virus, contradicting statements made Wednesday by Kudret Ozersay, in charge of foreign affairs in the north, who said that the administration had failed to reach a final decision and was considering to re-evaluate the move....

178. Post-lockdown jump in coronavirus cases rattles Turkish officials

Turkey may have to adopt a harder line on social interactions following a worrying jump in coronavirus infections but it has no plans to reverse an easing of lockdown restrictions aimed at reviving the economy, officials say....

179. Greek PM says Greece ready for any challenge

Amid renewed tensions with Turkey in the Eastern Mediterranean, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis stressed on Wednesday that Greece “will face all challenges with consistency, stability, confidence and always with a commitment to international law, as it always does.”...

180. Holy Synod says yoga no good

The Holy Synod of the Church of Greece rebuffed a call for dialogue between Orthodox churches regarding Holy Communion in the wake of the coronavirus crisis, while also denouncing yoga and warning cleric to stay away from the Lions...