The President must address the UN without terms and preconditions
Statements by the General Secretary of AKEL A.Kyprianou after the meeting with the DISY President A. Neophytou
AKEL C.C. Press Office, 18th December 2020, Nicosia
We had an honest exchange of views with Mr. Neophytou on the situation that has developed after the government’s budget was rejected by the majority of the House of Representatives.
I want to make it clear from the beginning that we are two political parties with different philosophies on socio-economic issues and we consider that this is very natural for the functioning of democracy in our country. We have discussed the situation. I want to clarify that, at least as far as AKEL is concerned, we do not want our country to go on adventures under any circumstances and that is why I have clarified that as AKEL we are ready to discuss policies that are beneficial for the people and our country. I have mentioned to Mr. Neophytou some of the key principles which we believe should be included in the state budget. These are issues you realise that concern workers, people on low-incomes and people facing huge difficulties with the banks. We have exchanged views on all these issues.
I will repeat what we have said recently. There are no dead ends in democracy. We believe that the opportunity is offered to the government after the vote on the budget to do what it should have done all along recently. Namely, to engage in substantive consultations with the political parties and respond, on the basis of its own philosophy as well, of course, to those positions which will form such conditions that will make the budget acceptable to the majority of Parliament. We therefore consider that it is the government’s responsibility to seek meetings with political parties in order to create conditions for a broader possible consensus.
As far as AKEL is concerned, if the President of the Republic invites us to such a meeting, we are ready for it. We will convey to the President the positions I have conveyed to Mr. Neophytou. I repeat we are ready to discuss policies that will be beneficial for the country and for our people.
You understand that during such a meeting we could not but discuss the Cyprus problem. This issue has to do with the very survival of both the country, but also our people in the land that gave birth to it. I think we agree on the framework and basis on which a solution to the Cyprus problem must be sought. The framework is determined by the relevant Resolutions of the UN and the High-Level Agreements. It is the framework of Bi-Zonal, Bicommunal Federation with political equality, as defined in the relevant Resolutions of the UN. We demand that the solution must be based on international law, as well as the principles upon which the EU is founded on.
AKEL’s position is that the President of the Republic must address the Secretary General of the UN in a very clear way. He should respond unequivocally to a possible invitation for participation in an enlarged conference, without setting terms and preconditions, on the basis of what the UN Secretary General demands. The President should go to that conference with determination and very well prepared so that, if possible, those preconditions are created to permit the resumption of substantive negotiations on the Cyprus problem. This should be exclusively determined by the attitude Turkey will take alone. If the resumption of negotiations does not take place, the responsibility must lie solely with the Turkish side.
I have also informed Mr. Neophytou about the basic principles of the proposal that we have submitted to Mr. Anastasiades on the Cyprus problem. Let me just say that in the coming days we will send a letter with the content of AKEL’s proposal, in a more concise form of course, we have given to Mr. Anastasiades and the political parties here in Cyprus, as well as of course to the political parties and officials of the Greek government.
I want to thank Mr. Neophytou for the discussion we had. It was I repeat a very honest meeting and I think now everyone knows where each other stands.
