2826. 🇹🇷 🇮🇴 New Issues From Northern Cyprus; BIOT Not Dead Yet.

 

New issues -

🇹🇷 Postal service of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus -

12 November 2025 - Works by Northern Cyprus cartoonists - 4 stamps. Designed by Kustafa Camal Azizoğlu, Husain Mehmet Ulubatli, Çakmak and Alper Susuzlu and printed by Devlet Basimevi. Rating:- ***.

12 November 2025 - Chess in Northern Cyprus - 2 stamps. Designed by Gabriel Sönmezer and printed by Devlet Basimevi. Rating:- ***.

BIOT - Reports of its death have been greatly exaggerated.

On 22 May 2025 I published this -

  On the basis of the belief that the issue was settled - the issue being that the British government would pay the Republic of Maurice £30 billion to take over the British Indian Ocean Territory - I removed the BIOT from my list of active Commonwealth philatelic entities. This turned out to be somewhat precipitate as the British Parliament still had to pass a bill to allow the government to lose the strategically important islands as well as the £30 billion it had promised to pay Mauritius where there was a considerable amount of pleasure voiced by the public there as the prime minister of Mauritius promised he would use it to cut taxes in Mauritius. 

  The descendants of the people who had lived in the Chagos Islands for 200 years, known as the Chagossians, who had been expelled from the Chagos Islands in the early 1970s by the British, were less pleased than the Mauritians because they would never be able to return to their ancestral homeland. It was a rare case of a colonial people wanting to continue with British rule. They mounted a heavy resistance to the bill which would deprive them of their homes and they were supported by the British opposition parties and other influential people. The bill to abandon the Chagos Islands did however make its way through the House of Commons and was then debated in the House of Lords where there was heavy resistance to it and the British government stepped back from attempting to take the final step. Today it has been announced that the bill will not be proceeded with until next year. 

  Therefore the British Indian Ocean Territory, for the present at least, continues to exist as a political entity though we do not expect to see any new stamps being released. I shall, however, return it to my list of philatelic entities until, and if, the bill to end the territory for ever is passed eventually.

BIOT - The present situation as one British commentator sees it.

2121. 🇯🇪🇮🇳 Jersey Ukraine And India My Stamp.

 

New issues.

Jersey Post -

18 July 2022 - Post and Go stamps, We Stand By Ukraine - 12 stamps as detailed in Blog 2117 (2 strips of 6 different Jersey Arms designs) dispensed from kiosks JE02 and JE04. Digital printing.

🇮🇳 India Post -

My Stamp issues - stamps with attached labels usually sold in sheetlets of 12 at a premium price.

30 June 2022 - Centenary of Bosch in India - 1 stamp.

July 2022 - 25th anniversary of ValueLabs - 1 stamp.

July 2022 - Commemoration of Jal Karen Sharma and 50th anniversary of his establishment of Chetak Logistics Limited - 1 stamp.

20 July 2022 - 44th FIDE Chess Olympiad, Chennai - 1 stamp. Rating ***.

2069. 🇳🇷 Nauru Commemorates The Islanders’ Return From Truk. 🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦

 

New issues.

🇳🇷 Nauru Post -

10 July 2021 - 75th anniversary of the islanders’ return from the island of Truk (now also called Chuuk or Ruk) after the end of the Second World War - 1 stamp. Rating:- *****.

  Thanks to Anonymous who kindly drew my attention to this issue in a comment in a previous Blog. The issue is mentioned and illustrated in the Nauru Bulletin issue 4 - 2021 published on 21 July 2021. The article includes no other details of the stamp itself but mentions that a first day cover was also released.

🇯🇪 Jersey Post - 

10 May 2022 - 150th anniversary of the FA Cup - see Blog 2064. Illustrations of two of the accompanying miniature sheets are now depicted below:-

🇬🇮 Royal Gibraltar Post Office -

25 April 2022 - 20th anniversary of the Gibraltar International Chess Festival - 6 stamps. Designed by Stephen Perera and lithographed by Bpost Security Printers. A subject of local relevance but desperately dull designs. Rating:- **.

1636. 🇭🇰 Hong Kong Features Chess Games.

🇭🇰 Hong Kong Post will issue a set of 6 ‘Children’s’ Stamps and 1 miniature sheet containing all 6 stamps on 21 April 2020 on the subject of ‘Chess Games Delight’. This attractive set was designed by Alex Ng from illustrations by Kenny Wong and lithographed by Enschedé and perforated 14. Rating:- ****.

🇱🇹 The despicable Stamperija philatelic agency has announced that it plans to cash in on the dreadful Covid-19 pandemic by issuing “stamps” on the subject. The agency has 3 Commonwealth country ‘clients’ - Maldives, Mozambique and Sierra Leone. The best thing for Stamperija to do would be to self-isolate .... permanently.

🇦🇮 The Anguilla Post Office closed the Anguilla GPO due to the Covid-19 pandemic. This has little effect on stamp issues since the Anguilla postal service has not released any new stamps since it issued a set of 8 definitives on 10 October 2016 having released a set of 6 stamps on 2 August 2016 to commemorate the Anguilla Summer Festival (the island’s postal service was to have issued a set of 4 stamps on 22 May 2017 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the ‘revolution’ on Anguilla but plans to do so were abandoned probably because of the provocative subject of the issue and the likely proposed designs which featured arsonists burning down Government House and rioting). See Blogs 822, 927 and 1009.

🇬🇸 The philatelic bureau of the United Kingdom’s smallest overseas territory (based in New Zealand) - Pitcairn Islands - has announced that orders it sends out will be delayed because of cancelled air services in New Zealand.

🇧🇿 The Belize postal service suspended all of its services on 4 April. Again this has little effect on stamp issues as issues by that postal administration are very infrequent - 1 issue of 2 stamps and 1 miniature sheet on 12 September 2019 and no issues at all in 2018.

🇰🇾 The Cayman Islands postal service announced that it would be closed from 25 March to 5 April but presumably the length of closure will be extended after that date.

868. South Pacific Christmas.

  The postal service of Niue will issue a set of 4 Christmas stamps with an accompanying miniature sheet on 7 December 2016 which depicts entries in a design competition. The designs were placed in an overall design by Jonathan Gray and the stamps were lithographed by Collectables and Solutions Centre in Whanganui and perforated 14.5. A colourful and attractive issue, rating:- ****

  The Tokelau postal service will also issue a Christmas set on 7 December 2016 which is also made up of 4 stamps and 1 miniature sheet. The issue was designed by Hannah Stancliffe-White and lithographed by Collectables and Solutions Centre in Whanganui and perforated 13.5. The designs are a little too whimsical for my taste. Rating:- ***.

  Hong Kong Post will release a set of 6 stamps and 1 miniature sheet on 6 December 2016 on the subject of the pencil drawings of Kong Kai-Ming. All of the art depicts Hong Kong townscapes. The issue was designed by Gideon Lai and printed in lithography and intaglio by Enschede and perforated 13.5. This seems to be an interesting and, as we would expect, a well produced issue. Rating:- ****.

  More philatelic products from Stamperija - this time another 10 "sheetlets" each containing 4 different "stamps" and 10 accompanying "miniature sheets" which are mainly, but not exclusively, on the subject of sport. The featured subjects are Golf champions, Formula 1 champions, Chess champions, Cricket, Judo champions, Rugby, Table tennis champions, Lionel Messi (footballer), Elvis Presley (US musician) and Mahatma Gandhi. The stated date of issue was 29 September 2016. The products are inscribed "Sierra Leone". Rating:- 0.

  Apart from the above stuff Stamperija also claims that Sierra Leone issued a sheetlet of 4 different stamps as an extremely belated Year of the Monkey issue on 29 September 2016 along with a sheetlet and miniature sheet to commemorate the China 2016 International Stamp Exhibition, Rating :- 0