On a leader’s ‘good judgment’ – Article by Andreas Solonos, member of AKEL Nicosia-Kyrenia District Committee

 

 

17 December 2022, “Haravgi” newspaper

In my humble opinion, the main characteristic of a leader is good judgment. A leader’s good judgment leads him to take measures to avoid unpleasant events and achieve positive developments.

Below are some of the actions made by the Nicos Anastasiades government, but with the then Foreign Minister and current Presidential candidate Mr. Nicos Christodoulides as their main protagonist.

Event 1

Since the summer of 2019, the government of Turkey and the Turkish Cypriot leadership declared that they would proceed with the colonalisation of Famagusta.

Nicos Christodoulides then stated that this was a “communication trick” by Turkey and the pseudo-state in the occupied areas, that it was merely a “sensationalist move”.

What happened and is happening is very well known to us all. If Nikos Christodoulides and the Anastasiades government had understood that it was not about some trick serving communication considerations, perhaps some preventative measures would have been taken and the situation today would be different.

Fact 2

Turkey was making it absolutely clear that it was going to drill in the region of the Eastern Mediterranean.

The then Foreign Minister, Nikos Christodoulides, stated that Turkey would not find a drilling ship to drill and that “actions have been taken for some time to address the Turkish provocation”. Turkey currently has 4 drilling rigs and is indeed drilling.

Fact 3

Nikos Christodoulides stated that with the forging of trilateral agreements signed by Cyprus, the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of the Republic of Cyprus had supposedly been shielded. We can see that the Cypriot EEZ is far from being shielded, given that Turkey is constantly exploring in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Fact 4

Nikos Christodoulides stated after the start of drilling in the Eastern Mediterranean that the European Union would supposedly take such measures against Turkey “that would hurt Turkey”, claiming that it was only a matter of time before sanctions were going to be imposed. This, at a time when the European Union was stating that “it is in the EU’s strategic interest to develop a cooperative and mutually beneficial relationship with Turkey”. It is no coincidence that no measures have been taken to date against Turkey.

Gentlemen of the Democratic Party DIKO and social democratic EDEK, these are hard facts that refer to the period when your candidate Nikos Christodoulides was Foreign Minister and are based on his own statements. For that reason, you cannot distance him from the government of Nicos Anastasiades and the DISY party. Is that the
“sound judgment” that a leader should have and will he pursue with that judgement if he is elected President?