New government shambles surrounding the Crans Montana failure
Statement by Stefanos Stephanou, AKEL C.C. Spokesperson
AKEL C.C. Press Office, 9th October 2017, Nicosia
Mr. Anastasiades is insisting that we have persuaded the international community about our intentions and that Turkey has been exposed due to its entire stand in Switzerland.
The Greek Cypriot negotiator Mr. Mavroyiannis says that the failure of the conference in Switzerland is the responsibility of M. Akinci.
The UN Secretary-General in his Report says things very differently than Mr. Anastasiades’ about the conference in Switzerland.
First, the UN Secretary-General considers that a historic opportunity for a solution to the Cyprus problem was missed. This vindicates AKEL’s position that the President of the Republic did not take advantage of the opportunities we had in Switzerland to push things so that we can either force Turkey to agree, or to expose it as to its true stand.
Second, the UN Secretary-General in his Report welcomes and credits the guarantor powers, including Turkey, with good will.
Third, the UN Secretary-General places the responsibility for the continuation of the negotiation procedure on the two sides of Cyprus. And instead of Mr. Anastasiades concentrating on this, that is, how the UN Secretary-General will be persuaded to take an initiative for the continuation of the procedure, he has adopted a pre-election rhetoric that takes us back on the Cyprus problem, attempting to reach out to various electoral audiences to grab their vote.
We must say that the positions expressed by Mr. Papadopoulos regarding the need for a so-called “new strategy” that he has announced are damaging to the Cyprus problem. This so-called “new strategy” is anything but new. It is full of old positions that have been tried and tested in the past and have caused damage to our cause and to the Greek Cypriot side. I regret to point out that the so-called “new strategy” makes it easier for Turkey to implement its policy of consolidating partition at no cost whatsoever.
We call on everyone to put the Cyprus problem above the elections. This is what AKEL is doing. We are working for the negotiations to continue in order find a solution based on principles, to put an end to the occupation and reunify our homeland and people.
