Medical aid under the shadow of the Covid-19: A political crisis among the leadership in North Cyprus

ABSTRACT

Accepting Greek Cypriot administration’s (Republic of Cyprus) medical aid by the Turkish Cypriots during COVID-19 pandemic in April 2020 has caused a conflict in North Cyprus print media. During the pandemic, medical aid has been provided by Greek Cypriot administration with the initiatives of the President of the time in North Cyprus, Mustafa Akıncı. The Prime Minister of the time in North Cyprus, Ersin Tatar opposed to this medical aid. This study focuses on the most circulated two North Cyprus newspapers’ (Kıbrıs and YeniDüzen) discourse regarding the aid. The medical aid sent by the Greek Cypriot administration (Republic of Cyprus) is important for developing mutual trust and enhances the already existing networks between the two sides in the island. The reactions to this aid are also important due to approaching Presidential elections in North Cyprus since both the President and the Prime Minister were candidates in the elections.  The study presents the results of Critical Discourse Analysis conducted for analysing the news stories related to the medical aid under the light of Social Capital Theory put forth by Robert Putnam.

KEYWORDS:

• Medical aid for Covid-19
• social capital
• critical discourse analysis
• North Cyprus
• South Cyprus and Republic of Cyprus

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. UN’s Resolution 789 (1992); (d) that each side take active measures to promote people-to people contact between the 2 communities by reducing restrictions to the movement of persons across the Buffer Zone; (e) that restrictions imposed on foreign visitors crossing the Buffer Zone be reduced; (f) that each side propose bi-communal projects, for possible financing by lending and donor Governments as well as international institutions; (g) that both sides commit themselves to the holding of a Cyprus-wide census under the auspices of the UN; (h) that both sides cooperate to enable UN to undertake feasibility studies (i) in connection with the resettlement and rehabilitation of persons who would be affected by the territorial adjustments as part of the overall agreement, and (ii) in connection with the programme of economic development that would benefit those who would resettle in the area under Turkish Cypriot administration. (https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/154294?ln=en)

2. UN’s Resolution 889 (1993), Particularly, Article 7: ‘Urges the leaders of both communities to promote tolerance and reconciliation between the two communities as recommended in paragraph 102 of the Secretary Council’s report of 22 November 1998; Article 8: Reaffirms that the status quo is unacceptable, and encourages the Secretary-General and his Special Representative to pursue the Secretary-General’s mission of good offices on the basis of the Set of Ideas and the package of confidence-building measures relating to Varosha and Nicosia International Airport referred to in paragraph 45 of the Secretary-General’s report of 22 November 1998. (https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/178168?ln=en)

3. United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) accomplishments in the sense of confidence building measures’ listed as:

• Campaign on cooperation for the prevention of wildfires within the buffer zone (From 1 December 2012-30 June 2013)

• Asthma Awareness initiative by the Technical Committee on Health Matters (On 20 September 2012)

• Launch of the Joint Communications Room (JCR) under the Technical Committee on Crime and Criminal Matters (TCCCM) (On 29 July 2010)

• Seminars on children at risk and on prevention of illegal drug use and abuse by the TCCCM (On 5 April 2011)

• Campaign on Awareness Raising Measures for Water Saving by the Technical Committee on Environment (From November 2010 until June 2011)

• World AIDS Day event, Cyprus Against AIDS by the Technical Committee on Health Matters (On 30 November 2010: Distribution of leaflets; On 1 December 2010: Conference)

• World Diabetes Day event by the Technical Committee on Health Matters (On 18 November 2011)

• Topography study for Arnavut Mosque in Limassol and Church of Archangelos Michael in Lefkoniko under the Technical Committee on Cultural Heritage (From 22 April 2013 until July 2013)

• Opening of the Limnitis/Yesilirmak crossing point (On 14 October 2010)

• Fiscal Federalism Conference (On 5 February 2009)

• Two Conferences on Property (First conference was on 20th and 21 May 2010; Second conference was on 11th and 12 July 2011 (London) and on 30 September 2011 (Nicosia))

• SCR 1325 Conference (On 6 December 2012)

• UNCOVERED, an art project, focused on the old Nicosia International Airport (September to October 2011)

https://www.cy.undp.org/content/cyprus/en/home/operations/projects/action_for_cooperation_and_trust/support-to-confidence-building-measures–cbms-.html

4. Report of the Secretary-General on his mission of good offices in Cyprus Security Council under the symbol S/2021/1109.

Article 22: While the rate of transfer of European Union-approved vaccines to the Turkish Cypriot community remained low, the Technical Committee on Health continued to be instrumental in overseeing the transfer of the vaccines between the two sides. As of 15 December, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, 1,956,023 doses had been received by the authorities of the Republic of Cyprus, of which, according to the Technical Committee on Health, 234,038 dosages had been transferred to the north. Work to provide Turkish Cypriots equal access to the EU Digital COVID Certificate is ongoing but has continued to face significant challenges (https://politis.com.cy/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/211230-SG-report-Cyprus-good-offices.pdf)