We won’t follow the President in the tension he is seeking to provoke

Statement by AKEL C.C. Spokesperson Stefanos Stefanou

AKEL C.C. Press Office, 13 April 2019, Nicosia

Cyprus is going through critical times and cannot withstand petty-party and electoral expediencies. We will not follow the downhill path and tension that the President of the Republic, and the ruling forces in general, are seeking to provoke by issuing statements about AKEL seeking “borrowed” Turkish Cypriot votes and other statements made yesterday and the day before yesterday by the President of the Republic.

The top priority right now is to focus on the effort to agree on the terms of reference, which will lead to the continuation of the negotiations from the point where they had remained on the basis of the Guterres framework. In our view, the President of the Republic’s statements are an attempt to shift society’s attention from the substance, namely the attempt to agree on the terms of reference. At the same time, this shift is being sought by the government and ruling forces and the President of the Republic because they want to avoid giving a reply on the fundamental questions AKEL is posing to the President of the Republic.

More specifically:

• With what credibility does the President of the Republic summon the Turkish side for undermining the Guterres Framework when he himself with the ideas he submits in essence is nullifying the Framework?
• How in truth can he make the Turkish side face up to its responsibilities to respond to the UN Secretary-General’s demand for an agreement on the terms of reference to be drawn up when the President himself in the way he handles matters is in the end making it easier for Turkey to go back from the Guterres Framework?