The EU's role in catalyzing a settlement in Cyprus : Providing incentives and imposing conditionality in the Cyprus conflict

Το 1987 η Τουρκία και το 1990 η Κυπριακή Δημοκρατία- ως η αναγνωρισμένη αρχή που εκπροσωπεί όλο το νησί- υπέβαλαν την αίτησή του για ένταξη στις Ευρωπαϊκές Κοινότητες (αργότερα Ευρωπαϊκή Ένωση/ Ε.Ε). Η γνωμοδότηση της Commission πάνω στην ενταξιακή πορεία της Κύπρου (1993) υπογραμμίζει την επίλυση του Κυπριακού ως προϋπόθεση για την ένταξη της Κύπρου στην Ε.Ε. Την ίδια τακτική ακολούθησαν οι Ευρωπαϊκοί θεσμοί και με την Τουρκία, αφού η επίλυση του Κυπριακού και η καλή θέληση της χώρας κατά τις διαπραγματεύσεις-υπό την αιγίδα των Ηνωμένων Εθνών- αποτελούσαν πολιτική προϋπόθεση για την ένταξη της χώρας στην Ε.Ε. Η σταδιακή άρση της αιρεσιμότητας του Κυπριακού προβλήματος στους Ελληνοκυπρίους, στην οποία συνέβαλε και ο ρόλος της Ελλάδας στα ευρωπαϊκά όργανα, άλλαξε τα δεδομένα και ευνόησε την ένταξη της Κυπριακής Δημοκρατίας, την περίοδο που η Τουρκική αίτηση φαινόταν να είναι στάσιμη. Ο ιστορικός συμβιβασμός που επετεύχθη στο Ευρωπαϊκό Συμβούλιο στο Ελσίνκι το 1999, κατέστη σχεδόν βέβαιη τη συμπερίληψη της Κύπρου στην 5η διεύρυνση ενώ η Τουρκία απέκτησε τον τίτλο του υποψήφιου για ένταξη στην Ε.Ε κράτους. Το 1999 εγκαινιάζεται και μια νέα περίοδος επαναπροσέγγισης και βελτίωσης ελληνο-τουρκικών σχέσεων μετά την παγωμένη περίοδο του 1993-1998 όπου το Ελληνικό και το Τουρκικό στοιχείο (Ελλάδα-Τουρκία και Ελληνοκύπριοι- Τουρκοκύπριοι) είχαν επικίνδυνες τριβές (Ίμια 1996, τα γεγονότα της Πράσινης Γραμμής το 1996, Πύραυλοι S-300 κλπ.). Οι διαπραγματεύσεις στις αρχές του 2000' είχαν ως βάση το σχέδιο του Γενικού Γραμματέα του Οργανισμού Ηνωμένων Εθνών ,Kofi Annan. Ο Πρόεδρος της Κύπρου Γλαύκος Κληρίδης, αν και είχε δείξει ειλικρινή διάθεση για εξεύρεση λύσης αντικαταστάθηκε το 2003 από τον Τάσσο Παπαδόπουλο, ο οποίος ήταν αρνητικά διακείμενος προς το Σχέδιο Ανάν. Οι βουλευτικές εκλογές στη βόρεια Κύπρο το 2003 ανέδειξαν ένα νέο πολιτικό προσωπικό διατεθειμένο να δεχθεί το σχέδιο Ανάν και να προσχωρήσει στην Ε.Ε παρά την δυσαρέσκεια του Προέδρου Ντενκτάς για την προτεινόμενη λύση. Τέλος, η εκλογή του Κόμματος Δικαιοσύνης και Ανάπτυξης (AKP) το 2002 στην Τουρκία, έφερε στο προσκήνιο βουλευτές με φιλο-ευρωπαϊκή ατζέντα και διάθεση για υποχωρήσεις στο θέμα του Κυπριακού. Στο δημοψήφισμα της 24ης Απριλίου 2004, περίπου 65% των Τουρκοκυπρίων ψήφισαν υπέρ του Σχεδίου Ανάν, ενώ το 76.8% των Ελληνοκυπριακού πληθυσμού το καταψήφισαν. Ποιός ήταν ο ρόλος της Ευρωπαϊκής Ένωσης και πώς επηρέασε το αποτέλεσμα; Κρίνοντας εκ του αποτελέσματος ήταν αποτυχημένη η πολιτική της Ε.Ε προς τους κύριους παίχτες της Κυπριακής διένεξης και πως επηρέασε τη συμπεριφορά του καθενός; Σε τι οφείλεται η αρνητική στάση των Ελληνοκυπρίων προς το σχέδιο Ανάν; Τι θα μπορούσε να είχε κάνει η Ε.Ε διαφορετικά; Τέλος, το Σχέδιο Ανάν ήταν συμβατό με τις κύριες διεκδικήσεις των Ελληνοκυπρίων;Turkey in 1987 and the Republic of Cyprus- as the recognized authority representing the whole island- in 1990 applied for European Communities’ membership signaling the beginning of EC’s (later European Union/E.U) interference in the Cyprus Conflict. Commission’s Opinion on Cyprus’ EC application (1993) underlined that a settlement in Cyprus was a prerequisite for the island’s EU accession. The European institutions followed the same policy for Turkey, since a settlement in Cyprus and Turkey’s good will during the negotiations- under the United Nations aegis- constituted a political requirement for Turkey’s EU membership. The gradual lifting of the settlement conditionality for the Greek-Cypriots, to which Greece contributed by utilizing its role in the European fora, brought a major change and favored Cyprus’ accession course, while Turkey’s application seemed to be at a stalemate. The historical compromise that took place in Helsinki during the 1999 European Council, certified Cyprus’ inclusion in the fifth enlargement, while Turkey was granted candidate status. The 1993-1998 period of hostility and tension between Greece and Turkey but also between the two communities in Cyprus (Imia 1996, Green line events in 1996, S-300 missiles’ crisis etc.) was succeeded by a new era of rapprochement and improvement of inter-state and intra-state relations. The basis for the early 2000’s negotiations was the plan proposed by the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan. The President of the Republic of Cyprus, Glafcos Clerides displayed a compromising stance towards the Plan but was succeeded after the 2003 elections by Tassos Papadopoulos, who was skeptical of the Annan Plan. The parliamentary elections in northern Cyprus featured a new wave of MPs willing to accept the Annan Plan and seek EU membership, despite Denktash’ disappointment for the proposed resolution. Finally, the election of AKP (Justice and Development Party) in 2002 in Turkey highlighted a pro-European agenda and willingness to make concessions regarding the Cyprus issue. During the 24th April 2004 referenda, 65% of the Turkish-Cypriots voted in favor of the Annan Plan, while 76.8% of the Greek-Cypriot people voted against it. What was the EU’s role in the process and how did it affect the outcome? Judging by the referenda, was the EU’s policy towards the main players of the Cyprus conflict failing and how did it influence the policy of each player? How could the EU have acted differently? Last but not least, was the Annan Plan aligned to the main Greek-Cypriot demands

Echocardiographic imaging of tricuspid and pulmonary valve abnormalities in primary ovarian carcinoid tumor

Carcinoid is a rare malignancy originating from enterochromaffin cells and is clinically characterized by flushing, diarrhea and bronchospasm, due to secretion of vasoactive substances. A dreaded complication is carcinoid heart disease, which mainly affects right cardiac chambers, resulting in thickened, immobile and retracted tricuspid and pulmonary valves. In the current report, a case of a 60-year old female presenting with symptoms of right heart failure is described. Transthoracic two-dimensional and real-time three-dimensional echocardiography findings, as well as biochemical markers, including pro-BNP and NT-pro-BNP, were consistent with carcinoid syndrome. The histological diagnosis of carcinoid was confirmed after surgical resection of an ovarian mass

Semaglutide and cardiovascular outcomes in patients with obesity and prevalent heart failure: a prespecified analysis of the SELECT trial

Background: Semaglutide, a GLP-1 receptor agonist, reduces the risk of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) in people with overweight or obesity, but the effects of this drug on outcomes in patients with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease and heart failure are unknown. We report a prespecified analysis of the effect of once-weekly subcutaneous semaglutide 2·4 mg on ischaemic and heart failure cardiovascular outcomes. We aimed to investigate if semaglutide was beneficial in patients with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease with a history of heart failure compared with placebo; if there was a difference in outcome in patients designated as having heart failure with preserved ejection fraction compared with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction; and if the efficacy and safety of semaglutide in patients with heart failure was related to baseline characteristics or subtype of heart failure. Methods: The SELECT trial was a randomised, double-blind, multicentre, placebo-controlled, event-driven phase 3 trial in 41 countries. Adults aged 45 years and older, with a BMI of 27 kg/m2 or greater and established cardiovascular disease were eligible for the study. Patients were randomly assigned (1:1) with a block size of four using an interactive web response system in a double-blind manner to escalating doses of once-weekly subcutaneous semaglutide over 16 weeks to a target dose of 2·4 mg, or placebo. In a prespecified analysis, we examined the effect of semaglutide compared with placebo in patients with and without a history of heart failure at enrolment, subclassified as heart failure with preserved ejection fraction, heart failure with reduced ejection fraction, or unclassified heart failure. Endpoints comprised MACE (a composite of non-fatal myocardial infarction, non-fatal stroke, and cardiovascular death); a composite heart failure outcome (cardiovascular death or hospitalisation or urgent hospital visit for heart failure); cardiovascular death; and all-cause death. The study is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT03574597. Findings: Between Oct 31, 2018, and March 31, 2021, 17 604 patients with a mean age of 61·6 years (SD 8·9) and a mean BMI of 33·4 kg/m2 (5·0) were randomly assigned to receive semaglutide (8803 [50·0%] patients) or placebo (8801 [50·0%] patients). 4286 (24·3%) of 17 604 patients had a history of investigator-defined heart failure at enrolment: 2273 (53·0%) of 4286 patients had heart failure with preserved ejection fraction, 1347 (31·4%) had heart failure with reduced ejection fraction, and 666 (15·5%) had unclassified heart failure. Baseline characteristics were similar between patients with and without heart failure. Patients with heart failure had a higher incidence of clinical events. Semaglutide improved all outcome measures in patients with heart failure at random assignment compared with those without heart failure (hazard ratio [HR] 0·72, 95% CI 0·60-0·87 for MACE; 0·79, 0·64-0·98 for the heart failure composite endpoint; 0·76, 0·59-0·97 for cardiovascular death; and 0·81, 0·66-1·00 for all-cause death; all pinteraction>0·19). Treatment with semaglutide resulted in improved outcomes in both the heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HR 0·65, 95% CI 0·49-0·87 for MACE; 0·79, 0·58-1·08 for the composite heart failure endpoint) and heart failure with preserved ejection fraction groups (0·69, 0·51-0·91 for MACE; 0·75, 0·52-1·07 for the composite heart failure endpoint), although patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction had higher absolute event rates than those with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction. For MACE and the heart failure composite, there were no significant differences in benefits across baseline age, sex, BMI, New York Heart Association status, and diuretic use. Serious adverse events were less frequent with semaglutide versus placebo, regardless of heart failure subtype. Interpretation: In patients with atherosclerotic cardiovascular diease and overweight or obesity, treatment with semaglutide 2·4 mg reduced MACE and composite heart failure endpoints compared with placebo in those with and without clinical heart failure, regardless of heart failure subtype. Our findings could facilitate prescribing and result in improved clinical outcomes for this patient group. Funding: Novo Nordisk

Irrational Architecture Hotel Building Modules for Progressive Quantum Marketing with Full Spectrum Zero-Clean Room, Multi-Dimensional Layout, and Artistic-Utilitarian Design

The Bauhaus school established a stable utilitarian cause-and-effect relationship. Nevertheless, the opposite of Irrational Architecture has been preferred to solve severe investment and financing problems in the hotel construction and renovation industry. A new Marketing interpretation was attempted to attract new hotel customers. Under the connecting glue of Quantum Marketing through Big Data Science coverage, several irrelevant ideas are incorporated. Since hotel functions are chaotic, the hotel room was selected as the minimum chunk of intervention. Several apartments or bungalows would be constructed to cover peculiar progressive functioning like Zero Clean Room and bathroom, protection, guest living in Platonic Solid space and four dimensions emulation, semiautomatic room fitting, and unlimited room furniture and equipment options. All these are addressed through promotion channels to the curiosity of the possible guest. The visitor preselects the desired number of features, and the room is up and ready according to his determination. A room preparation film presents all necessary steps, indicative guest Phobias are analyzed, and prefabricated modules are studied in a realistic business plan. Finally, an estimation is given for the necessary number of invention patents and schedule realization for every room. Zero net incompatibility and cost remain unresolved issues.</jats:p