Legacy of Anastasiades seems to be dominating the political scene in Cyprus in the coming term as well. Early favorites of the Presidential race, DISY's Neophytou, currently independent Christodoules and AKEL's potential candidate Mavroyiannis have been the aces of Anastasiades' team during his rule. In this episode of Nicosia Uncut, Andromachi Sophocleous and Kemal Baykallı shed a critical light on the system that fails to generate strong alternative candidates backed by the leading political parties in Cyprus. The latest meltdown of institutions and the system in the Turkish Cypriot political was also discussed.

Nicosia Uncut – Episode 39: RoC elections – three candidates of the establishment (16/5/2022)

In this episode of Nicosia Uncut Andromachi Sophocleous and Kemal Baykallı discuss how Turkey is firming its grip in the Turkish Cypriot politics as the right-wing coalition of UBP leader Dr Faiz Sucuoğlu collapses yet again due to his apparent fall-out with cabinet members supported by Turkey’s AKP leadership. True, this is not the first […]

Nicosia Uncut – Episode 38: Turkey firms its grip on Turkish Cypriot politics (3/5/2022)

In this episode of Nicosia Uncut, Andromachi Sophocleous and Kemal Baykallı host Dr.Alexandra Novosseloff, the author of the EPON report titled "Assessing the Effectiveness of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force (UNFICYP) and the Office of the Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Cyprus (OSASG)". What does the report entail? What kind of work does the UN do behind the scenes to prevent crisis to occur? What are the relations between the conflict-prevention and peacemaking in the Cypriot context? How does the "fear of recognition" affect the work of the UN?

Nicosia Uncut – Episode 37: Discussing effectiveness of the UN in Cyprus with Dr.Alexandra Novosseloff (15/4/2022)

Difficult times for Ukraine and for the world peace in general! While Russia's attack on Ukraine continues to create a humanitarian tragedy in the heart of Europe, there are lessons for Cypriots who are living in frozen conflict on the island. In this episode of Nicosia Uncut, Andromachi Sophocleous and Kemal Baykallı discusses how the war in Ukraine must teach the Cypriots the need to end their own conflict since they have been living on a powder keg for many decades. Harsh statements by the Russian Ambassador in Nicosia, upon the decision of the Republic of Cyprus to close its airspace as this is also a common decision of the EU, created a resentment among various circles. Anastasiades government, however, is trying to go below the radar instead of taking a determined position against the Russian invasion.

Nicosia Uncut – Episode 36: War in Ukraine and the lessons for Cypriots (10/3/2022)

Since the collapse of the talks in Crans Montana, Anastasiades government has dedicated all its foreign policy capital in isolating Turkey through various diplomatic tools. Apart from a number of regional agreements (which were highlighted with tantamount ceremonies), the Republic of Cyprus has used its EU membership to push, unsuccessfully, for European sanctions against Turkey. […]

Nicosia Uncut – Episode 35: RoC’s U-turn from sanctions to CBMs (17/2/2022)

Cyprus is the land of impossible fantasies. One side thinks that the international community is now ready to accept a “two-state solution” in Cyprus, the other tries to play a global chess-game with a non-feasible, unrealistic “East Med Pipeline Project”, something which was doomed to fail from the beginning. In this episode of Nicosia Uncut, […]

Nicosia Uncut – Episode 34: Cyprus: The land of pipe dreams (14/1/2022)

The Turkish Cypriot economy is badly hit following the meltdown of the Turkish lira. Being an import oriented economy based on services, economy in the north was already fragile due to the pandemic. The depreciation of the Turkish lira affected northern part of the island even more than Turkey since the slider at the volume […]

Nicosia Uncut – Episode 33: TCs hit by currency, RoC’s illusions on EU sanctions collapsed (20/12/2021)

In this special episode of Nicosia Uncut, Andromachi Sophocleous and Kemal Baykallı discuss and analyse the content, context and the implications of the leaked UN minutes with the delegations on the last day (6 July 2017) of the Cyprus conference in Crans Montana which ended without any agreement. Also known as "Crash Montana", the failure effectively ended the efforts to find a solution to the Cyprus problem, leading to a blame game between the sides since then. The leaked UN minutes, as collected on this episode page - www.islandtalks.fm , demonstrated how the chapter on security and guarantees was the main source of disagreement in an environment heavily fortified with mistrust. The leaked documents also shed some light on the role of the UN and the EU in the latest talks.

Nicosia Uncut – Episode 32: Cyprus problem: What do the leaked UN minutes tell us? (3/12/2021)

In this episode of Nicosia Uncut, Andromachi Sophocleous and Kemal Baykallı explore the reconciliation initiatives in Cyprus - Home for Cooperation, Technical Committee on Cultural Heritage in Cyprus, Cyprus Dialogue Forum, Famagusta Avenue Garage and The Base by Cyprusinno are few to name. In the local politics, Turkish Cypriot right wing UBP party had a leadership race, electing Dr.Faiz Sucuoğlu as the new leader of the party and the new PM until the early elections which is expected to take place in early 2022. 2023 presidential elections of RoC enhanced the rivalries within the Greek Cypriot right wing DISY party, some independents have already announced that they are running. Last but not least, the West is cautiously waiting for the 2023 elections in Turkey, and it seems that Erdoğan is finally losing steam according to the latest polls.

Nicosia Uncut – Episode 31: Rivalries in UBP & DISY; Erdoğan’s deteriorating popularity (3/11/2021)

Summer is over and all sides are now focused on upcoming elections on both parts of the divide in Cyprus and in Turkey. Turkish Cypriot minority coalition finally collapsed the day after this episode was recorded. Both Turkey and the Republic of Cyprus have presidential elections in 2023 and the tension around the waters of […]

Nicosia Uncut – Episode 30: More elections, more tensions (14/10/2021)

Anastasiades invited the Turkish Cypriots back to the 1960 constitutional order as a response to Tatar’s statements in a never-ending tit-for-tat blame game. This caught everybody by surprise, including his own cabinet members. In this episode of Nicosia Uncut, Andromachi Sophocleous and Kemal Baykallı discuss the latest in Cyprus politics with a particular focus on […]

Nicosia Uncut – Episode 29: Back to the 1960 constitutional order? Really? (2/9/2021)

In the heat of August, Nicosia Uncut producers Andromachi Sophocleous and Kemal Baykallı explain how the Cyprus problem continues to pose problems in all walks of life: This time on the registry of vaccinated Turkish Cypriots and non-recognition of their documentation. To the north of the island, in Turkey, AKP government which has been in […]

Nicosia Uncut – Episode 28: Divided over vaccination registries and what’s going on in Turkey? (14/8/2021)

On 19-20 July 2021, during his visit in Cyprus, Turkey’s President has reiterated their position that they now support a two-state solution for the solution of the Cyprus problem and announced partial opening of Varosha in violation of the UN Security Council resolutions. A wave of international reactions started to pour in. In this episode […]

Nicosia Uncut – Episode 27: ‘Two-state solution’ and opening of Varosha? What now? (22/7/2021)

In this episode of Nicosia Uncut; Andromachi Sophocleous and Kemal Baykallı discuss the internal and external political motives of Turkey when it comes to the Cyprus problem on the eve of Turkish President Erdoğan's visit to Varosha. They also elaborated on the rather ineffective response of the Greek Cypriot leadership to the developments; how Turkish Cypriots are now by-passed with the new Turkish Cypriot leadership and failing Turkish Cypriot minority coalition.

Nicosia Uncut – Episode 26: Analysing Turkey’s motives and the Greek Cypriot response (5/7/2021)

In this episode of Nicosia Uncut, Andromachi Sophocleous and Kemal Baykallı analyse the outcome of Republic of Cyprus parliamentary election result. A total of 366,608 out of 557,836 registered voters or 65.72% have voted. The abstention amounted to 191,228 votes or 34.28%.  The parties that entered 56 seated parliament are Democratic Rally (DISY) 27.77% - 17 seats;  Progressive Party of Working People (AKEL) 22.34% - 15 seats, Democratic Party (DIKO) 11.29% - 9 seats, National Popular Front (ELAM) 6.78% - 4 seats; Movement for Social Democracy (EDEK) 6.72% - 4 seats; Democratic Front (DIPA)  6.10% - 4 seats; and Cyprus Green Party 4.41% - 3 seats.

Nicosia Uncut – Episode 25: Election special episode (1/6/2021)

In this episode of Nicosia Uncut, Andromachi Sophocleous and Kemal Baykallı respond to the feedback they have received to their recent episodes. The questions and feedback include the relations between corruption and division; role of the United Nations and the European Union in the Cyprus peace process; and what they needed to do in order to contribute to the peace process more positively.

On the lighter side, it is the Bayram episode, so Kemal talks about his favourite Cypriot Bayram desert: Tel kadeyifi

Nicosia Uncut – Episode 24: Responding to our listeners’ feedback (15/5/2021)

Informal 5+1 conference on Cyprus, with the participation of two Cypriot sides and three guarantor powers as well as the UN, ended with failure at the UN headquarters in Geneva. Positions of the sides were not bridgeable and the UN Secretary General announced his intention to gather sides once more for another informal summit. Nicosia Uncut producers Andromachi Sophocleous and Kemal Baykallı provides a critical analysis of the process and try to answer the quetion: "What's next?"

Nicosia Uncut – Episode 23: Discussing the 5+1 Geneva failure and next day scenarios for Cyprus (3/5/2021)

In this episode we have had a special guest. Retired Ambassador Selim Kuneralp served in the Turkish foreign ministry for more than 40 years at various high-level positions and in this episode he answered our questions regarding the latest developments in the Cyprus problem, regional & global politics and shared his personal assessments on the relevant topics.

It was a real pleasure to host such a refined diplomat in our podcast and we feel obligated to remind our listeners that, needless to say, Mr.Kuneralp addressed our discussion topics on his personal behalf, and not on behalf of any country or office he held in the past or present.

Nicosia Uncut – Episode 22: Discussing CYprob, global politics with our special guest: Retired Ambassador Selim Kuneralp (23/4/2021)

Today’s episode is special as Nicosia Uncut produers Andromachi Sophocleous and Kemal Baykallı are hosting Dr. Sertaç Sonan, one of the academics behind a survey titled: “Politics and Society in North Cyprus” and published by Friedrich Ebert Foundation. The report focused on the differences and similarities between native Turkish Cypriots and Turkish immigrants who came […]

Nicosia Uncut – Episode 21: Special guest – Dr.Sertaç Sonan on their survey on political culture in northern Cyprus (6/4/2021)

Podcasting from both sides of the divide in Nicosia-Cyprus, Andromachi Sophocleous & Kemal Baykallı are producing the popular politics podcast - Nicosia Uncut. In this episode, they discuss the conclusions of the latest EU Council meeting and provide a background in the global and regional politics. While the new US Administration is trying to restore the American foreign policy around containing Russia, Turkish-American relations are likely to face various tests including the one in the East Med. Europeans are still lacking a coherent and unified foreign policy, a gap that might be filled by post-Trump USA. Cyprus, however, is still a chip in the bigger game. As the date for the informal 5+1 summit on Cyprus is fast approaching, Nicosia Uncut producers discuss various scenarios for the meeting that will take place between 27-29 April in Geneva.

Nicosia Uncut

Nicosia Uncut

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