Two newspaper chief editors, from both sides of the divide in Cyprus, have joined forces to help the island`s two communities understand each other better through articles, reportage, opinions and analyses they publish in the Cyprus Weekly and Havandis Media.
Lefteris Adilinis. Editor in Chief of the English language weekly “The Cyprus Weekly” and the in-cyprus.com, and Basaran Duzgun, Editor in chief of Havadis newspaper, have described the first month of their cooperation as successful.
The Phileleftheros Group and the Turkish Cypriot Havadis Media Group have, for the first time in media history on the island, joint forces since the beginning of March and they publish a print and online English – speaking newspaper, covering news and articles from both the southern government controlled part of Cyprus and the northern Turkish occupied areas, treating the whole island as one, as Adilinis has told CNA.
Their aim is to contribute to efforts to solve the Cyprus problem, reunite the island and form a common public media, both Adilinis and Duzgun have stressed.
“We believe that there is room for cooperation in the media in both communities in order to contribute in their own way and help the peace effort to solve the Cyprus problem and reunite the island,” Adilinis has said.
The philosophy of this cooperation is to eliminate the lack of communication between the two sides and contribute towards understanding the positions of each other, noted Basaran Duzgun. “That means to understand why the other side is afraid of the guarantees, if it is so, or if this side wants the guarantees, why it wants that.” He believes the stance the leaders of the island`s two communities has had an impact on their attempt in that they encourage a common future of brotherhood instead of negotiations carried out by two enemy sides.
Both Editors in chief announced that they will proceed with common issues and Duzgun expressed confidence that they will be able in the future to issue a joint, bilingual newspaper. This is his dream, he said.
Adilinis expressed his satisfaction because from the beginning of this attempt he saw that the Turkish Cypriot newspaper was ready for this and did not argue about anything. “In retrospect you see how much time you lose when you do not dare to try things out or when you face the people of the other community with prejudice,” he remarked.
“The Cyprus problem must be solved, Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots should set up a joint state and we have a responsibility to leave such a legacy in the future,” said Basaran Duzgun. Both have expressed satisfaction for the fact that there was no negative reaction to their cooperation in both communities, but the attitude of the readers and site users is very positive.
The effort will continue regardless of progress in the peace talks, noted Adeilinis, adding that economic cooperation helps to strengthen the relationship between the two communities and can produce political solutions.
“Previously, translations were used as a weapon for clashes and we could not understand the other side, now through translations we try to understand each other,” Duzgun noted.
The Cyprus Weekly will be circulating both in the southern as well as the northern part of Cyprus, while in-cyprus.com will publish on line news from both sides, in English. Havadis will be the main provider of Cyprus Weekly and in-cyprus.com with Turkish Cypriot content, news stories and comment, whereas the Cyprus Weekly will contribute to broadening Havadis’ coverage with Greek Cypriot news, analyses and opinion.
CNA/RP/MM/2016
ENDS, CYPRUS NEWS AGENCY