AKEL General Secretary: The country needs an honest President

 

10 August 2022. ‘Dialogos’ portal

The Cyprus problem is at its worst stage ever, the General Secretary of AKEL Stefanos Stefanou pointed out on Tuesday evening, adding that Turkey is as provocative and aggressive as ever towards Cyprus and its people.

In his address at the inauguration of the renovated Local Club of the mass organisations of the Left in Xylofagou, Stefanos Stefanou said that “we have a very important social struggle to wage ahead of us. In February 2023, the presidential elections will be held in a very critical period for our country, a period where new wars, tensions, bloodshed, and the rearrangement of the whole world are breaking out globally, in which many of the certainties we may have had until today, are being questioned in the end.”

He went on to say that “at the same time in Cyprus, in this very difficult regional environment, we are living in very difficult conditions with numerous deadlocks creating conditions of economic, political and social insecurity. Many of the deadlocks have been created by the 10-year governance of the country by the government of the DISY party”.

Referring to the Cyprus problem, the General Secretary of AKEL said that “it is indeed in its worst phase ever. We are in a phase where we are one step away from the permanent partition of Cyprus, while Turkey is more provocative and aggressive than ever before towards Cyprus and our people”. He added that “at the same time, due to the erroneous and contradictory handlings and policies pursued by the President and the DISY government, the Greek Cypriot side is unfortunately considered by the international community to be equally responsible for the deadlocks on the Cyprus problem”.

Internationally, the General Secretary of AKEL continued, “the Greek Cypriot side is viewed as being unreliable/untrustworthy and as a result we are not convincing and when you are not convincing you cannot put forward proposals and take initiatives to mobilise the international community, to put pressure on Turkey so that we can resume the negotiations. This is a task that the new President of the Republic of Cyprus will have to undertake.”

And because, he continued, “the new President of the Republic of Cyprus will be Andreas Mavroyiannis, this is what is high on his priorities. He has it as his top priority, because, as he correctly says, if we do not solve the Cyprus problem, we cannot build our present and our future on solid foundations. We at long last need everything we build, and everything we create to be built on solid foundations”.

Stefanos Stefanou also said that “Cyprus in the conditions we live in today needs an honest President who has no questions/doubts hanging over his head. Cyprus tops the table in various international statistics regarding entanglement/interwoven interests and corruption and this is not by chance. This is because this government has made entanglement/interwoven interests and corruption a characteristic of its governance.”

It is for this reason, he continued, “that we need an honest, clean President to cleanse the country from this situation that only discredits us all and shames Cyprus internationally.”

“The government of the ruling DISY party”, S.Stefanou said, “promised a lot and did almost nothing, announced a lot and did very little. It is for this reason that a significant number of citizens in society no longer trust politics and politicians because of this government with its many promises and the breaking of all these promises”.

Elsewhere in his address, the General Secretary of AKEL said that Andreas Mavroyiannis “is what Cyprus really needs today” and it is for this reason that AKEL decided to support his independent candidacy, because, as he explained, “Andreas Mavroyiannis has never belonged to any party. However, at the same time from the important tasks he had assumed as a career diplomat, he cooperated and worked with the political parties and all parties have the best things to say about a diplomat who throughout his career has always put Cyprus first.”

S.Stefanou concluded by saying that “throughout its history, AKEL has always put Cyprus first and foremost, the people, the workers, the vulnerable groups of the population. This is why we chose to support Andreas Mavroyiannis and we will wage as always the very important battle ahead of us,” assuring that “with everyone’s effort we can and we will win this important political battle, for the good of the country, the people and the common people.”