Turkish Cypriot ‘health minister’ Hakan Dincyurek on Tuesday withdrew the resignation he had tendered on Sunday, declaring that despite previously announcing the opposite, he will, in fact, stand as a candidate for his party, the UBP, in December’s Turkish Cypriot legislative elections.

“Following the discussions, mutual evaluations, and consultations we have held, I would like to share with the public my decisions regarding the roadmap I intend to follow moving forward,” he began.

He added that “just as we have done until now, we will continue on our path, upholding the values in which we believe in and bearing the responsibility entrusted to us by those who have placed their faith in us”.

“Let’s meet at the ballot box on December 6, for the sake of our country, our people, and our party,” he said.

The announcement comes with the deadline for political parties to submit their lists of candidates for December’s elections having passed, with the UBP having published its final list late on Tuesday evening.

‘Parliament speaker’ Ziya Ozturkler had earlier announced that he will be a candidate at December’s election and that “I have no intention of withdrawing”, stressing that “I will continue to fight for the UBP until the very end”, after unconfirmed reports had suggested that party leader and ‘prime minister’ Unal Ustel had been urging him to withdraw from the election.

Ozturkler, Dincyurek both secure places on UBP’s final list

Ozturkler and Dincyurek both appeared on the list, though Ozturkler found himself at the bottom of that list in his home constituency of Morphou. He had been among the 17 people who appealed the result of Saturday’s internal party primary elections, prompting Ustel to remark that that result “it is binding whether we get the desired result or not”.

Additionally, it was reported that Ustel had urged fellow incumbent legislature member Emrah Yesilirmak to withdraw from the race, with Saturday’s result having placed Yesilirmak in a similarly precarious position to Ozturkler, after he was not automatically selected in Trikomo.

Yesilirmak, too, appeared on the final list, but, like Ozturkler, found himself bottom of the list in his home constituency of Trikomo.

The stakes of this election may be higher for both Ozturkler and Yesilirmak than for most, given that investigations have been launched into both men in relation to the “fake diploma scandal”, over which Ustel’s longtime close personal associate Fatma Unal was jailed for five years on Tuesday.

Yesilirmak allegedly received a forged degree certificate, while the police in March having launched an investigation into allegations that Ozturkler coerced university officials to award degree certificates to his political allies under false pretences.

However, on this front, sources close to the matter have suggested to the Cyprus Mail that both men may relocate to Turkey so as to avoid arrest, as former ‘prime minister’ Huseyin Ozgurgun did in 2019.

A total of 17 appeals had been filed against the provisional results of the primary election the UBP held to determine its candidates on Saturday. All 17 appeals were rejected.

Only Karanfil, Canaltay, and Hamzaogullari will not return of current crop

With Ozturkler, Dincyurek, and Yesilirmak all having fond their way onto the party’s list, only two incumbent UBP legislature members are confirmed to have missed out on places on the party’s list.

Firtina Karanfil failed to make the party’s list in Lefka, while Resmiye Canaltay, the daughter of former Turkish Cypriot leader Dervish Eroglu, announced earlier on Tuesday that she had withdrawn her candidacy.

As such, just three of the 49 incumbent members of the Turkish Cypriot legislature will not seek reelection, with opposition party the CTP’s Biray Hamzaogullari having retired.

This news comes after two surprises featured on the ruling coalition’s junior partner the DP’s list, with Hasan Tosunoglu, who had left the party in 2024, topping its list in the Nicosia constituency, and Serhat Akpinar, who had in the same year announced that he would not seek re-election, topping the party’s list in the Kyrenia constituency.

Exactly two people who were elected to the legislature at the last election in 2022 are not incumbent members. One, Tufan Erhurman, resigned his seat last year to become Turkish Cypriot leader, and as such will not stand for election again.

The other, HP leader Kudret Ozersay, resigned his seat just three months after the election in protest at the ruling coalition. He tops his party’s list in the Nicosia constituency.

Disy leader Annita Demetriou on Tuesday said that she will not be accepting the resignation of former finance minister Harris Georgiades from the Glafcos Clerides Institute, saying that issues that arise within the party must be resolved through dialogue and not through resignations.

In a post on X, Demetriou said that she will seek dialogue in the coming period, noting that her personal decision was motivated solely by the desire to unify the party.

Demetriou’s remarks come after former finance minister Harris Georgiades in a letter to Demetriou on Tuesday announced that the would not campaign for former Disy leader Averof Neophytou in the 2028 presidential elections in the event that the latter win Disy’s election and offered his resignation as chairman of the Disy affiliated Glafcos Clerides Institute thinktank.

The Council of Ministers on Tuesday approved €11.5 million in student allowances for the 2025-2026 academic year, alongside additional measures aimed at easing the financial burden on families.

Speaking after the cabinet meeting, Finance Minister Makis Keravnos said the allocation represented a substantial increase on the €10 million initially budgeted for 2025.

“Today’s decision reflects the Christodoulides government’s firm commitment to targeted measures that reach those who really need them,” he said.

Keravnos also announced a separate allocation of €1.2 million in student benefits for families of Greek students studying in Cyprus and repatriated Cypriot families whose children are studying either on the island or abroad.

He explained that the measure covers families who, because of their residence abroad, do not qualify for the regular student grant scheme, which has a budget exceeding €30 million.

The cabinet also approved changes to the income criteria for student assistance, raising the maximum family income threshold from €39,000 to €44,000 for families with two children.

For larger families, the income threshold starts at €64,000 and increases by €5,000 for each additional child.

Families with more than five children will be exempt from income and property criteria altogether.

“The finance ministry deemed it necessary to adjust the income limits so that the inflationary pressures of recent years do not leave families with real needs out of support,” Keravnos said.

The minister also announced an increase in the student airfare allowance from €300 to €500, citing the continuing energy crisis and rising living costs.

An additional €500 allowance will also be provided to first-year students.

Keravnos said the measures were intended to help families meet the rising costs of education, accommodation, food and travel.

Asked about the reasons behind the adjustments, he pointed to the pressures created by the energy crisis and the wider geopolitical situation, which he said continued to affect students, households and businesses.

“We will continue to ensure that economic growth translates into real support for every family in need, while acting prudently and safeguarding the stability of public finances,” he said.

Interested parties can submit their applications via the relevant electronic platform https://sg-yxe.mof.gov.cy which will be open on a date that is yet to be announced.

To submit an application, parents or guardians are required to have an account with the CY login electronic service which can be created via https://cge.cyprus.gov.cy/cyloginregistration/register.

Greek applicants do not require an account verification.

The Holy Synod on Tuesday confirmed the previously reported existence of a letter circulated to priests urging them to abandon the Church of Cyprus and found a new church.

Archimandrite Georgios Christodoulou, the Holy Synod’s chief secretary, told media that though the matter of the letter was not on the agenda during Tuesday’s special session of the Synod, it would be addressed at a later stage, “before it gets out of hand”.

According to Phileleftheros, the letter – which effectively advocates for a mutiny – is signed by five individuals. The missive has been circulated to all Paphos-based clerics, as well as to a number of priests in other districts.

The letter’s authors are thought to be proponents of what is known as ‘apoteichisis’ – from the Greek word literally meaning “walling off”. It is a practice in Eastern Orthodox Christian theology where a member or cleric of the Church ceases ecclesiastical communion and liturgical commemoration of their ruling bishop or patriarch.

The action is taken when church leaders are deemed by the adherents to be preaching heresy or straying from Orthodox dogma.

Proponents view it not as leaving the Church or forming a new schism, but as erecting a “protective wall” between themselves and a compromised clergyman to preserve the true faith.

Behind the move are thought to be supporters of former Paphos bishop Tychikos, deposed from his role in May 2025 after he was charged with various breaches of church protocol, including showcasing an icon of a saint not canonised by the church.

Tychikos subsequently appealed against his dismissal at the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, but was unsuccessful in his appeal.

Then in January this year, the Holy Synod voted to suspend him indefinitely from priestly duties following his decision to pursue legal action through the civil courts.

Tychikos had been summoned to Tuesday’s session of the Holy Synod, but did not show up. Instead, he sent a letter requesting a face-to-face meeting with the archbishop.

The archbishop accepted.

Previously, the Holy Synod had asked the rebel priest to sign a declaration of loyalty to the decisions of the Ecumenical Synod, to declare obedience to the decisions of the Holy Synod, and to renounce ‘apoteichisis’ and its adherents.

He complied with none of those requests.

In other business on Tuesday, the Holy Synod condemned the recent deadly attack at a Greek Orthodox church in Jordan, where gunmen fired on the crowd, killing nine people and injuring dozens more.

Trade between China and Cyprus grew to $1.44 billion (€1.29 billion) during 2025, while the future holds even greater prospects for economic cooperation, attendees at a forum heard on Tuesday.

Speaking at a business forum held in Nicosia and organised by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Keve), China’s ambassador to Cyprus Yang Yundong said bilateral trade in 2025 marked a 26 per cent year-on-year increase.

According to the ambassador, last year China became Cyprus’ fourth largest trading partner. Meantime more and more Cypriot products – like halloumi cheese, zivania and fresh juices – are finding their way to the Chinese market.

Yang noted the significant prospects for cooperation in shipping, tourism, green technologies and the digital economy.

He highlighted the role Cyprus can play as a bridge between China and the European Union.

On bilateral relations, the ambassador noted that the forum is part of events marking the 55^th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries.

In his own address, Keve chairman Stavros Stavrou stressed the importance of transforming bilateral relations into specific business partnerships.

Cyprus, he said, can act as an entry point for Chinese businesses into the single EU market, making the most of its geography as it lies at the crossroads of Europe, Asia and Africa.

China is a major market and an international hub for technology, innovation, manufacturing and investment – offering opportunities for Cypriot entrepreneurs.

Stavrou cited the upcoming agreement between Cyprus’ Top Kinisis travel agent and China’s Zhejiang Overseas (Ningbo) International Travel Service Co.

For his part Marios Tannousis, director at Invest Cyprus, said ICT (information and communications technology) has become a main growth driver for Cyprus, with an annual contribution to the economy of €4 billion – corresponding to approximately 15 per cent of GDP.

Tannousis said Cyprus has recorded an increase in foreign direct investment from various geographical regions.

He cited data showing that the island ranks among the top ten countries globally in terms of FDI per capita.

Theodoros Parperis, chairman of the Cyprus-China Business Association, likewise spoke to the potential for growing trade and investment between the two countries.

The association currently numbers more than 200 members.

Established in 1995, the Cyprus-China Business Association operates under the auspices of Keve and the Chinese embassy in Cyprus.

Turkey’s Akkuyu nuclear power station, which is located on the southern coast of the country’s Mersin province, 90 kilometres from Cyprus, will be operational next year, Turkish Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar said on Tuesday.

“The intensive testing process is continuing at Akkuyu. Due to nuclear safety and the international conventions and agreements to which Turkey is a party, it is a very special area, and nothing has been left to chance. Every precaution has been taken,” he said at the Turkiye Energy Summit in Istanbul.

He added that the government aims to load the first nuclear fuel into the station “in the next few weeks”, and that this will “mark the physical startup of Akkuyu”.

Beyond that, he said, “we will be using Akkuyu electricity in our system from 2027 onwards”.

Construction at Akkuyu began in 2018, with it expected that the first reactor will enter service this year and the second reactor will enter service next year. Each reactor will provide a total of 1,114 megawatts of electricity – around 2.5 per cent of Turkey’s electricity consumption each.

The project has caught the eye of anti-nuclear activists in Cyprus and beyond, with demonstrators having gathered in Nicosia as early as 2017 to protest the plans, while European Parliament group The Left, to which Akel belongs, had in 2015 warned against the plans.

“The plant is to be constructed in Mersin, in a seismic area on Turkey’s Mediterranean coast. This exposes to risk first and foremost the population in the area of Mersin, but also all countries and peoples in the region,” it said.

It then offered its “support to the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot organisations that have joined forces to raise awareness both in Cyprus, Turkey and abroad, aiming to stop the construction”.

The power generated at Akkuyu will only be usable in Cyprus if it is connected to Turkey by a cable, though these plans appear to have stalled after the European network of transmission system operators for electricity (Entso-E) refused to endorse the plan.

The cross-examination of the complainant in the trial of suspended Paphos mayor Phedonas Phedonos concluded on Tuesday after three days before the Paphos criminal court.

The cross-examination followed the complainant’s earlier testimony, with proceedings held behind closed doors.

Judges and lawyers were present in the courtroom, while Phedonos remained in an adjacent room as the complainant gave evidence.

The trial is scheduled to resume on November 2 at 9am, when the prosecution’s final two witnesses are expected to testify.

One of the witnesses is a businessman whose testimony has been delayed because he was hospitalised at a private hospital in Nicosia.

It remains unclear whether he will be able to appear in person before the court.

Phedonos faces five charges: rape, indecent assault of a woman, indecent assault of a woman by another act, assault causing actual bodily harm, and administering a drug or other substance capable of intoxicating a person or overcoming their resistance.

He denies all charges.

MPs and patients’ associations on Tuesday decried the fact that parents with children suffering from serious ailments have largely been left to their own devices, with some even losing their jobs because of long absences to care for their children.

Representatives of groups as well as lawmakers demanded that the government step up its game, as state support for these families is nowhere near enough.

Extending the duration of parental leave for as long as necessary, increasing allowances, and making advance payments to parents spending time in hospitals abroad with their children, were among the proposals heard.

MPs were particularly frustrated, recalling that the discussion in parliament began a year ago, with the situation for parents remaining unchanged since.

Akel MP Marina Nicolaou said they’ve asked for a special paid leave for parents who have to care for their sick children, as well as safeguards so that a parent cannot be sacked while away from work.

In addition, the state should recognise as insurable, for pension purposes, the time spent by parents at home or at the hospital.

“The state must rise to the occasion,” said Nicolaou.

Diko’s Andreas Apostolou described families with children receiving hospital treatment as “the most vulnerable”.

In turn, he called on the health ministry to provide in advance the allowance for non-medical expenses – such as for accommodation – incurred by parents while overseas.

As it stands, these expenses are reimbursed later, and the reimbursements take time.

A health ministry official said they are considering upfront payments covering part of these non-medical expenses. However, he noted, this might result in overpayments.

The comment drew an angry reaction from Disy MP Demetris Demetriou, who recalled that benefits overpayments had also been made during the Covid pandemic, when individuals and businesses were called on to return money.

“Let’s not act on the logic that 99 per cent of people are trying to rob the state,” he remarked.

Andri Pavlou, an official with the labour ministry, said that extending parental leave is part of a bill now being drafted.

She also noted that the pension reform currently being deliberated on, covers informal carers – often family members – so that the time spent away from work is not deducted from pension benefits.

Emily Groutidou, representing the federation of patients’ associations (Osak) expressed disappointment, noting that authorities’ approach to the issue had not changed.

While staying abroad to be by their children’s side, she noted, parents incur many “hidden costs”.

But the formula still being used to calculate expenses reimbursements is akin to that used for allowances given to civil servants for trips overseas.

“The basis of the thinking is wrong,” she said.

Giorgos Penintaex, of the ‘One dream, one wish’ association supporting parents with children suffering from cancer and leukemia, complained that it takes the state too long to process applications for allowances.

In some instances, he said, allowances are paid one or even two years after the claim is filed.

Parents in need of immediate support are often forced to turn to fundraisers, get bank loans, or seek help from associations.

“We’ve come to substitute the state,” Penintaex said.

Four public access defibrillators were delivered to the municipalities of Nicosia, Strovolos and Latsia-Yeri by the Rotary Club, as the HeartSafe Cyprus initiative was officially launched on Tuesday.

Rotary Club president Michalis Kyprianou said the initiative rests on the principle that “every human life has the same value”.

The head of the WHO office in Cyprus, Dr Irshad Shaikh, said the project was “about empowering people with the confidence, knowledge and skills to save lives”.

The WHO says cardiovascular diseases kill about 10,000 people every day in its European region and account for 42.5 per cent of all deaths there.

Polys Polykarpou, head of resuscitation services at the health ministry, said success would be judged by the number of people ready to act as well as the number of devices installed.

The programme forms part of the EU Safe Hearts Plan, which provides for more than 20 new defibrillators a year in Cyprus over five years.

The met department issued a yellow weather warning for severe storms on Tuesday night.

The warning will be in effect from 2am until 6pm on Wednesday, with storms initially expected in the west, which will gradually expand to the rest of the island.

Rainfall is expected to range between 35 and 55 millimetres per hour, while winds are set to reach up to 8 Beaufort.

Temperatures are expected to drop slightly on Thursday, before rising gradually from Friday onwards.

Cyprus has the second smallest video game market among 36 European countries, with only Malta spending less, according to a report published on Tuesday by the European audiovisual observatory.

Consumer spending on video games in Cyprus reached €12.51 million last year, ranking 35th of the 36 countries included in the analysis, ahead of only Malta which recorded €8.31 million.

With a population of about 1.26 million, spending per person in Cyprus came to €9.93; The European average was €47.29, almost five times higher.

Across the 36 countries examined, the video game market totalled €27.73 billion in 2025.

The report places Cyprus, Luxembourg and Malta in a category of small European markets where mobile gaming dominates, with about 98 per cent of consumer spending in Cyprus last year being linked to mobile platforms.

The report says these markets have high smartphone use and a limited presence of traditional consoles and PCs in the recorded data, with revenue mainly stemming from in-game purchases as well as digital currencies.

The government will retain income criteria for child benefits for families with three or more children, despite calls from MPs and social organisations for their abolition, the House labour committee heard on Tuesday.

Speaking after the meeting, committee chairman and Akel MP Giorgos Koukoumas criticised the government’s refusal to accept proposed amendments to the child benefit bill.

“The government made it clear today that it will not listen to parliament, large families, families with three children, single parents, trade unions or the Commissioner for Children’s Rights,” he said.

Although the bill includes some improvements, Koukoumas argued that it falls far short of meeting the needs of modern families, particularly single-parent households, which he said would see little benefit from the proposed changes.

He also accused President Nikos Christodoulides of failing to honour election pledges to improve support for single parents and abolish income and property criteria for larger families, including those with dependent university students.

According to Koukoumas, the proposed increases in child benefits amount to just €60 annually, or €5 per month per child, for one category of recipients, and €27 annually, or less than €2.50 per month, for another.

Drawing comparisons with other European countries, Koukoumas said Germany provides €255 per month per child without income criteria, Luxembourg offers benefits starting at €300, and Poland provides €185, while the maximum monthly benefit in Cyprus currently stands at €49 and could rise to around €53 or €54.

He also criticised the government’s rejection of a mechanism to automatically adjust income thresholds annually in line with inflation.

Koukoumas said Cyprus spends less than one per cent of its GDP on family and child support, less than half the European average. He cited annual per capita spending of €277 in Cyprus compared with an EU average of €830.

He called for budget surpluses to be redirected towards households struggling with the cost of living rather than being retained by the government.

Meanwhile, Diko MP Andreas Apostolou welcomed the proposed legislation as a step towards extending financial support to several thousand additional families through child benefits and nursery subsidies, but said further improvements were necessary.

“Child benefit is the state’s most targeted policy for supporting families, which are the foundation of a country,” he said, describing family support as a national duty.

Apostolou called for a larger budget and higher income thresholds, particularly as the number of children in a household increases.

He argued that income criteria for large families should either be abolished or raised substantially, while university students should continue to count as dependent children when calculating eligibility.

Apostolou also announced that the social welfare deputy ministry had formally accepted his proposal to allow Cypriot families returning from abroad to apply for child benefits from their first day back in Cyprus.

Apostolou added that Diko, as a party supporting the government, had a particular responsibility to secure further improvements for families and young couples.

He said the party had already included additional proposals to expand the child benefit scheme among its suggested amendments to the 2027 state budget.

The Old Philharmonic of Corfu will take part in the 28 Oxi Day parade in Nicosia on Wednesday.

According to the parade programme, the band will gather on Heilonos street before joining the historical parade of student youth, and performing the Greek national anthem, the ‘Hymn to Liberty’.

In June 1864 the Corfu band played the melody to welcome King George I, himself of Danish descent, whereafter the young monarch adopted the music, and the next year in 1865 it was officially recognised as the Greek national anthem.

The Philharmonic Society of Corfu, known as the “Old Philharmonic”, was founded on September 12, 1840

Its creation followed a ban by the British administration on the British army band taking part in Orthodox religious events, notably the procession of the relic of Saint Spyridon, the island’s patron saint.

Oxi Day marks the Greek rejection of an Italian ultimatum on 28 October 1940, when the Italian ambassador in Athens, Emanuele Grazzi, presented Greek prime minister Ioannis Metaxas with a demand for Italian troops to be allowed to occupy unspecified strategic points in Greece.

Metaxas is recorded as answering in French with the words “Alors, c’est la guerre”, (‘Then it is war’).

Italian forces crossed the border from Albania, however Greek troops halted their advance and pushed the Italians back deep into Albanian territory in the following weeks.

Following Benito Mussolini’s humiliation, who at the start of the offensive had remarked that he “would be having coffee on the Parthenon by lunchtime”, Nazi Germany intervened in April 1941 and Greece was occupied.

Road deaths in Cyprus rose by 10 per cent in 2025, with 45 fatalities recorded, according to figures published on Tuesday by the European Commission’s transport directorate.

The island’s road fatality rate was slightly above the EU average of 43 deaths per million inhabitants, although the number of fatalities remained 13 per cent below the 2019 level and 12 per cent below the 2017 figure.

Data for the first half of this year show a fall of more than 10 per cent compared with the same period last year.

However, Cyprus has recorded 34 road fatalities so far this year, matching the number registered at the same point in 2025, which was the deadliest year of the past five years.

Fourteen of this year’s victims were motorcyclists.

Speeding and mobile phone use remain among the main contributing factors in fatal collisions, while drivers under the age of 24 feature prominently among those killed.

A European transport safety council report published in June found Cyprus cut road deaths by 13.5 per cent between 2019 and 2025 and by 21.1 per cent over the past decade, slightly better than the EU average of 20.2 per cent.

Across the EU, 19,350 people died in road collisions in 2025, a decrease of 3 per cent compared with 2024 and 15 per cent compared with 2019.

Only Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Poland and Romania are currently on track to meet the EU target of halving road deaths by 2030.

Bulgaria recorded the highest road fatality rate, at 71 deaths per million inhabitants, followed by Romania with 68 and Croatia with 65.

Sweden recorded the lowest rate, at 19 deaths per million inhabitants.

Turkish Cypriot ‘prime minister’ Unal Ustel’s longtime close personal associate Fatma Unal was on Tuesday sentenced to five years in prison, after having been found guilty on 16 counts of document forgery and other related crimes.

Unal’s sentence was handed down in a packed courtroom in Nicosia, with raucous scenes greeting the verdict’s announcement, as members of Unal’s family reacted angrily to the news.

Multiple eyewitnesses have since alleged that a bottle filed with water was thrown at the head of newspaper Ozgur Gazete’s editor-in-chief Pinar Barut, with Barut leading a team of journalists and lawyers to the Turkish Cypriot police’s headquarters to file a formal complaint about what they described as “violence” in the courthouse.

Unal’s conviction came after it was found that she had obtained a degree from Morphou’s Cyprus Health and Social Sciences University under false pretences, with acting university director Mehmet Altuntas having explained the process through which she obtained her degree during the trial.

He explained that Unal was first registered at the university on its online registration database on September 9, 2021.

He then said that the following day, Unal’s official date of registration was changed on the database to the spring semester of the same year, and she was then registered to two courses from that semester and given passing grades.

The next intervention on the database, he said, occurred on October 28, 2021, when four courses running during the autumn semester of 2021 were selected by Unal herself.

Later in the hearing, he explained that on September 22, 2022, Unal’s profile on the database was changed to show that she had taken and passed all the courses required and fulfilled all other requirements to graduate.

He said her graduation date was listed as June 15, 2022 – more than three months before the date on which she was registered for the majority of the courses to which she had registered – and that at this point, he contacted the police.

Another feature of the trial was repeated references to and allegations levelled against ‘parliament speaker’ Ziya Ozturkler.

Following these references, the police in March launched an investigation into allegations that he coerced university officials to award degree certificates to his political allies under false pretences, while then using his position as ‘interior minister’ at the time to award those he coerced citizenship of the ‘TRNC’.

Why is Motherwitch – opening this Thursday in local cinemas – quite a special kind of film? Let us count the ways.

“It’s special because it’s Cyprus’ first folk-horror feature film,” says Minos Papas, who directed it and also co-wrote the script (with Nikolas Kouroumtzis and Euripides Dikaios).

It’s also special because “it’s based on Cypriot folklore that has not been seen onscreen before” – the fabled kalikantzari, mischievous goblins (sometimes said to be the spirits of lost kids coming back to haunt their parents) who appear during the 12 days of Christmas, and were previously immortalised in the silkscreen prints of Hambis Tsangaris.

It’s also special, says Minos, because “it’s shot in real locations of Cyprus – the abandoned 15th-century village of Parsata” (which the production spent a month restoring), and “the ruined monastery of the Holy Cross, ‘Timios Stavros’, in Anogyra.”

What’s more, “it’s a wintry Cyprus that we don’t usually see, the colour palette is grey and green and brown”. In fact, with its green fields and layered purplish hills stretching into the horizon, the landscape often seems more Balkan than Mediterranean, adding to the doom-laden atmosphere.

It’s also special because “it’s a movie where people will hear the actual Cypriot dialect of the late 19th century – or at least what we assume it was,” adds the director. Note that the film is being released not just with English, but also Greek subtitles – though he actually went back and forth on that, says Minos, the effect of the archaic dialect on modern Cypriot viewers (allowing them to catch the dramatic flow without understanding every word) adding a strangeness, “an arcaneness” that’s actually interesting.

Is that all? Not entirely.

Motherwitch is also special for genre buffs and special-effects geeks because its effects are almost entirely ‘practical’ (i.e. not computer-generated), a huge point of pride in the horror-fantasy world.

The filmmakers used “the ‘Schüfftan effect’ from the original Blade Runner” to create glowing eyes, says the director – an intricate effect, involving literal mirrors placed next to the camera – and also, for instance, used a “cloud tank to create these dreamy skies”, shot in his apartment in LA “then composited onto the skies here”.

Then again, lest we get too geeky, the film also provokes some emotional reactions.

“In Malta, I had somebody [from the audience] coming up to me sobbing – because she was going through a loss,” he reports. “She’d recently lost her mother, and she said –” Minos laughs out loud – “she told me to go fuck myself” for having hit a nerve so precisely. “Which was really touching…”

Motherwitch is the story of Eleni (Margarita Zachariou), a wandering painter in rural Cyprus in 1882, soon after it became a British colony. (The British play a small but significant part in the narrative.) Having lost her children in a tragic accident, she initially withdraws from life – but then, teaming up with an abused village boy, she embarks on a blood ritual that she hopes will bring back her kids. But “something ancient is unleashed” instead.

The film took seven years to make, much of that devoted to writing the script and finding the budget of €1.7 million – which sounds like a lot to the layman, but “the layman needs to get educated then,” jokes Minos grimly, “because 1.7 doesn’t go very far, especially in the European funding system [where] you have to pay for a lot of accounting and auditing”.

About half the funding came from the Cyprus government and Invest Cyprus, the rest includes equity (i.e. private investors) from both here and the US – the country that’s been Minos’ base for the past 27 years, since he went to study in New York at the School of Visual Arts. (Motherwitch is his third feature film.)

The idea was brewing in his head for a lot more than seven years, however, sparked by Tsangaris’ prints of the kalikantzari – but in fact they later meshed with something else, an artist friend in the US who lost her son when he was two days old and, grief-stricken, painted his portrait and wrote a book of poems (Poems for Wyatt) about her loss.

That unlikely mix lies at the heart of Motherwitch – and is also part (yet another part) of what makes it special.

The film’s done well on the festival circuit, having played Fantasia in Montreal and Sitges in Spain, two of the world’s biggest fests for genre films (a catch-all term for horror, sci-fi, fantasy, action, and cult cinema) – but the most common reaction he gets, says Minos, is perhaps that “it’s unique, it’s its own thing”.

Wikipedia describes Motherwitch as a “gothic folk horror fantasy film”. The trailer calls it simply ‘A Cyprus Gothic’. It’s coming out for Halloween, and the shoe obviously fits – yet “I think ‘horror’ is my least favourite word for the movie,” admits Minos. “It’s the word we adopted because we had to classify it, y’know?

“In the beginning we were saying to people ‘It’s a fairytale’ – and we’d describe it, and they’d be like ‘Oh, so it’s a horror film’.” He laughs. “No, no, no! There’s no blood, there’s no violence…” There are creatures – kind of – but “you don’t really see anything”.

Minos’ own preferred term is ‘Gothic’ – “19th-century ghosts, more or less. A very sort of wintry, stone look”.

There’s a certain texture (“It’s a very handmade movie”), a certain melancholy, a certain atmosphere that sticks to your bones. It’s there in the visuals, the antiquated words, the emotional pull of the grief-stricken mother.

An unusual film? You could say that. An unusual Cypriot film? And how.

President Nikos Christodoulides on Tuesday said that both he and Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman have agreed to make “no further statements” on matters of substance related to the Cyprus problem ahead of the forthcoming arrival on the island of United Nations envoy Maria Angela Holguin on the island.

“It was a very good and constructive discussion, which will continue during Holguin’s presence in Cyprus. For this reason, we have agreed not to make further statements regarding specific issues, and we also agreed that no joint statement would be issued,” he said after meeting Erhurman in the morning.

Both leaders had also met the bicommunal technical committees on cultural heritage and on youth, as well as the civil society steering committee, following their one-on-one meeting.

Of those meetings, Christodoulides said that they were “constructive” and that “various views and suggestions were put forward” by committee members.

He added that those suggestions will be discussed by himself and Erhurman going forward.

Holguin expected to arrive on Thursday

Holguin is expected to arrive on the island on Thursday, and will hold meetings with both Erhurman and Christodoulides, before holding a tripartite meeting with both leaders at the end of her stay.

Prior to Tuesday’s meeting, Christodoulides had stressed that his proposal to open and repopulate the fenced-off area of Varosha under the United Nations’ administration and open the port of Famagusta under the European Union’s control is “mutually beneficial”.

“I believe this is a mutually beneficial proposal. It creates a positive situation for both sides and serves as a practical test of whether we are truly committed to moving forward, specifically by taking bold confidence-building measures which also send a strong message to society as a whole,” he said.

Erhurman had said last week that he had rejected the proposal, lamenting that it fell short of an entry into force of the European Union’s direct trade regulation.

“Is this the entry into force of the direct trade regulation? No, it is not the entry into force of the regulation, but since [the port] would be under EU control, direct trade would begin,” he said.

As such, he said, the proposal was unbalanced.

The direct trade regulation is a pending EU regulation which would allow Turkish Cypriot goods, as certified by the Turkish Cypriot chamber of commerce, to be exported directly into Europe via the Green Line, and given preferential treatment inside the European single market as European goods.

It was proposed in July 2004, three months after the rejection of the Annan plan to reunify Cyprus by the Greek Cypriot side in a referendum, and shortly after the Republic of Cyprus’ accession to the EU.

Menelaou had cited progress on crossing points

Previously, Greek Cypriot chief negotiator Menelaos Menelaou had said that a dispute over the routing of the planned transit road between Athienou and the Nicosia suburb of Aglandjia “has been overcome”.

He said that the outstanding dispute now remains over the question of whether a planned crossing point to connect Louroujina, the southernmost Turkish Cypriot village, with nearby Lymbia, will open at the same time.

The Turkish Cypriot side’s position is that the road between Athienou and Aglandjia constitutes two crossing points, one in Athienou and one in Aglandjia, and that they are part of a package of four alongside plans for a crossing point in the eastern Nicosia suburb of Mia Milia, and one in Louroujina.

However, the Greek Cypriot side treats the road between Athienou and Aglandjia as one crossing point, counterweighted by the Mia Milia crossing point, and is therefore of the view that the Louroujina crossing point should only be opened if a second transit road, through the Turkish Cypriot Kokkina exclave in the Tillyria region, also be opened.

The captivating score of The Jungle Book comes to life on Larnaca’s and Nicosia’s stages as the Cyprus Symphony Orchestra presents family concerts. Under the baton of the Cypriot maestro Kyriaki Kountouri, orchestra musicians, mezzo soprano Marilena Nisidi and narrator Petros Georkadjis will present two magical evenings.

First, The Jungle Book concert will be presented at the Municipal Theatre G. Lycourgos of Larnaca on Thursday, November 5 at 6pm, before Nicosia audiences enjoy it at Pallas Theatre on November 7 with two performances; at 4pm and 5.30pm.

Based on five of the nine Mowgli stories from Rudyard Kipling’s classic 1894 collection of the same name, this fantasy adventure inspired one of the most iconic film scores of Hollywood’s Golden Age, composed by the eminent Hungarian-American film composer Miklós Rózsa.

Renowned for his unforgettable scores to classic films such as Ben-Hur, Spellbound, El Cid and The Thief of Bagdad, Rózsa vividly captures the adventurous spirit, imagination, heroism, humour and mystery of the jungle, masterfully blending traditional Indian musical elements with the grandeur of the symphonic idiom.

The score features eighteen distinct themes, one for each of the story’s principal characters. Through this richly imaginative, almost operatic approach, Rózsa vividly brings to life both humans and jungle animals.

Mezzo soprano Marilena Nisidi, the recipient of an honourable mention at the recent International Masterclass & Competition for Opera Soloists organised by the Cyprus Symphony Orchestra, will perform the beautiful lullaby for Mowgli.

Enhanced by live narration by Petros Georkadjis, this magical family concert promises an immersive and unforgettable journey into one of cinema’s most beloved adventures – an experience sure to delight audiences of all ages.

The Jungle Book Concert

Family concert by the Cyprus Symphony Orchestra, mezzo soprano Marilena Nisidi and narrator by Petros Georkadjis. November 5. Municipal Theatre G. Lycourgos, Larnaca. 6pm. November 7. Pallas Theatre, Nicosia. 4pm and 5.30pm. €12. Tel: 22-463144. www.cyso.org.cy