The tragedy of the shipwreck, and the shipwreck of politics

Opinion accidentCyprus problemoccupied north The tragedy of the shipwreck, and the shipwreck of politics Image 536 (2) Relevant News The tragedy of the shipwreck, and the shipwreck of politics 1 September 2026 The Kyrenia tragedy and the tragedy of the inhuman: You are not defending Cyprus. You are shrinking it. 1 September 2026 Cyprus-US relations at “highest level” ever, Presidency says 1 September 2026 Costas Venizelos 1 September 2026 FacebookXWhatsAppEmailPrintViber When tragedy strikes, politics needs to get out of the way. Managing the crisis comes first. What unfolded in the waters off occupied Kyrenia has shocked the country. Dead and missing from the shipwreck. What matters, in moments like this, is finding the missing. The human element. The humanity. From the moment the shipwreck became known, the Republic of Cyprus, through the United Nations, made clear it was ready to help however it could, offering its own resources to the search effort. The occupation side is usually cautious about accepting help from the Republic, sometimes outright hostile to it. But there have been exceptions. In two major wildfires, in May 2020 in the villages of Diorios and Kormakitis, and in June 2022 in Kantara, the occupation regime asked the Republic of Cyprus for help and got it straight away, aircraft and all. The first time, the occupation regime’s leader was Mustafa Akıncı (with Ersin Tatar as his so-called “prime minister”); the second time, Tatar himself was heading the breakaway entity. This time, the Republic of Cyprus rushed to declare itself ready to help. There was no response from the occupation side. It’s worth remembering that the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre (JRCC) declared, through the UN, that it was ready to provide whatever help was needed to deal with the crisis. Help was needed, alright: as philenews reported, the Turkish side approached a Dutch company for assistance. According to that report, the Dutch firm, in turn, went looking for help in Limassol, and ended up calling a tugboat owner. All of this is happening at a time when confidence-building measures are under discussion, with the Turkish side stressing the need for steps “to restore trust.” In theory, at least. Obviously, nobody’s trying to pin political blame on anyone here, and this tragedy should never be exploited. Tufan Erhürman has no “authority” over these matters, since that lies with the pseudo-government, and above all with Turkey. He could, of course, still intervene and press for cooperation, as his predecessors have done. It’s worth noting that 2020 was the first time the occupied areas ever accepted help from the free areas. According to the newspaper Diyalog (18.05.20), their so-called “fire service” and “civil defence” didn’t have enough vehicles to tackle the fires, so they asked for help first from Turkey, then from “southern Cyprus,” as the paper called the Republic of Cyprus. Three helicopters came from Turkey, the report said, adding that Mustafa Akıncı, who went to the fire zone himself, realised Turkey’s aircraft were taking too long and picked up the phone to President Anastasiades directly. Anastasiades, in the paper’s own words, “quickly sent to the north” a firefighting plane and a helicopter. At a moment of human tragedy like this, political debate obviously isn’t high on anyone’s agenda. But this tragedy, this shipwreck in the waters off occupied Kyrenia, does have political consequences all the same. It is a direct result of the ongoing occupation. P.S.: For years now, as part of a confidence-building arrangement, there have been agreed arrangements over electricity. The EAC sends power to the occupied areas, and takes it back too, when it needs to. Subscribe to our Newsletter Latest News The Kyrenia tragedy and the tragedy of the inhuman: You are not defending Cyprus. You are shrinking it. Cyprus-US relations at “highest level” ever, Presidency says Cyprus to impose emergency sailing ban after Cape Greco tragedy Rare footage captures seven Cyprus mouflon, including twins, at a watering hole Friend hails Dimi Mavropoulos as ‘the lord’ of Cape Greco after boat tragedy ‘The search was over’: A family’s four-day quest for a son lost in Nepal’s floods Trump vows to hit Iran hard after first exchanges of fire in a month Follow en.philenews on Google News and be the first to know all the news about Cyprus and the world.