If Anastasiades continues to act with regressions and contradictions, history will judge him mercilessly and put him down as the leader of partition.
Statements by the General Secretary of AKEL A.Kyprianou on the President of the Republic’s positions for a two-state solution
AKEL C.C. Press Office, 28th December 2020, Nicosia
I regret revisiting the issue of the President of the Republic’s statements, better still the positions of the President of the Republic, for a two-state solution, as the Archbishop referred in his interview last Sunday. I am obliged to come back on the issue because, unfortunately, instead of the government apologizing for the damage it did to the Cyprus problem, the government is attacking all those who suggested that the President of the Republic, for a period, had been toying with the possibility of a two-state solution.
I will simply let them know that there are a several dozen, if not hundreds of people, who the President of the Republic had confided in them his thoughts of a two-state solution. For that reason all of these people cannot have been out of their mind, just as I do not think the Archbishop too has gone insane to say what he says.
Therefore, instead of realizing how much damage they have caused to the effort to resolve the Cyprus problem, they are insisting – both on the Cyprus problem and on the issues of corruption that they declare they are innocent and unblemished – on saying that they have not committed any mistake whatsoever. The vacillations and regressions with which they have operated and the flirtation with the solution of two states have caused enormous damage to the efforts to resolve the Cyprus problem.
First and foremost, it has hurt our credibility towards the international community and Cyprus’ EU partners, and this is extremely important in the effort to resolve the Cyprus problem. The regressions and contradictions of the President of the Republic have led us to a prolonged deadlock. A deadlock that has accumulated huge problems, the escalation of Turkish aggression in the Exclusive Economic Zone and the attempt to provoke fait accompli in Famagusta, which will be the final nail in the coffin of the Cyprus problem, while unfortunately for 3.5 whole years the Anastasiades-DISY did not make use of the presence of Mr. Akinci in the leadership of the Turkish Cypriot community and now we have before us Mr. Tatar who really functions as the spokesman of Ankara.
Of course, worst of all is that the issue of two states is now being raised urgently and pressure is being exerted by Turkey that it should constitute the basis of discussion for a solution to the Cyprus problem.
I want to clarify that we are not saying this because we want to criticize Mr. Anastasiades, as the government and DISY are trying to convince the people. We say what we say because we are concerned about our homeland. We care about our children and grandchildren. We are worried about our country’s future. Therefore, Mr. Anastasiades needs to understand that we have reached the bottom. We can’t afford to waste any more time. He needs to leave his bad self to the past and focus on taking initiatives for a solution of the Cyprus problem.
We have submitted our proposal (on the Cyprus problem). We want to know what the President’s counter-proposal is, how he will work with regards the efforts to resolve the Cyprus problem. If he moves in the correct direction, he should be sure that AKEL will support the procedure, as a patriotic party it is. If at the end of the day, Mr. Anastasiades continues to act with regressions and contradictions, he should not have absolutely no doubt whatsoever that history will judge him mercilessly. History will put him down as the leader of partition.
