DISY-Government should reflect on who is facilitating Turkey
Statements by the General Secretary of AKEL Andros Kyprianou on his departure for high-level contacts in New York
AKEL C.C. Press Office, 2 December 2018, Nicosia
On the visit to New York
The Cyprus problem will determine the future and prospect of our country and people, the fortunes of our children and grandchildren. I believe that it is our duty to go to the United Nations Organization, convey our thoughts and opinions and listen to their own side’s thoughts and opinions too. This is the purpose of our visit. We will meet the Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations Rosemary Di Carlo, the UN Assistant Secretary-General Responsible for Political Affairs and the Permanent Members of the UN Security Council. We will also have meetings with the Cypriot community, as well as with the Archbishop.
Asked to comment on whether we can expect anything from these contacts, the General Secretary of AKEL replied:
Apart from an exchange of views, nothing more. I repeat that Mr. Anastasiades is the one who is responsible for the handling of the Cyprus problem, not us.
On what’s been said in recent days by the government-DISY
I want to comment on what Mr. Anastasiades and DISY leader Averof Neophytou have been saying over the past few days. I’ll repeat that AKEL has shown how patriotic a party it is when, with unselfishness and in spite of political cost, it backed the negotiation procedure from 2014 until 2017, up to Crans Montana. Neither Mr. Anastasiades, nor Mr. Neophytou can be proud of doing the same thing.
The second thing I want to say is that when you regress and contradict yourself, the only thing you do is to facilitate the other side’s positions, and in this case Turkey. They should therefore reflect on who is facilitating Turkey and who is trying to make it harder for Turkey by insisting on the basic principles of the solution of the Cyprus problem, as they have been timelessly set out by UN resolutions, the High-Level Agreements, International Law and the principles on which the EU is founded. This is AKEL’s position. In my opinion the only thing Mr. Anastasiades achieves by saying anything to the contrary or attempts to say, is to make us wonder how certain politicians behave to achieve their goals, which have nothing to do with the real interests of the Republic of Cyprus.
