“Some political parties want a unitary state but are hiding it…”
Excerpts from a speech of the General Secretary of the C.C. of AKEL Andros Kyprianou at an open meeting on the Cyprus problem
“GNOMI” newspaper blog, 25th January 2017
There are some political parties in the National Council that refer to a unitary state. It would be more honest of them to tell the truth in public rather than hiding, the General Secretary of AKEL Andros Kyprianou said on Tuesday evening, speaking at an open meeting on the Cyprus problem held in the Municipal Hall of Ayios Athanasios. More specifically, Andros Kyprianou said that those denouncing bizonality must state what policy should be followed, adding that “it is obvious that they choose to support a unitary state and the majority of the proposals they submit lead to a unitary state, but they name it Federation to cover up the fact that they are talking about a unitary state.”
He continued saying that, “some political parties in the National Council that refer to a unitary state. It would be more honest on their part to tell the people that they disagree with Federation, that they want a unitary state and that their criticism of the negotiations is exerted because it concerns the solution of Federation.”
“Instead, they hide the fact that they want to go towards a unitary state, but using this as a starting point they criticize the ongoing procedure,” he said. Andros Kyprianou noted that we must be consistent to all those agreements we concluded in 1977. Recalling that today there are approximately 18 federal states covering 40% of the world’s population, the General Secretary of AKEL pointed out that these federal states have some common features, but no federation is the same, “a fact that also is a reply to the criticism being promoted by some forces about a supposed racist solution, and who say that there isn’t a Federation as the one we are going to create.”
In addition, he stated that the continuity of the Republic of Cyprus is safeguarded, given that both of the essential preconditions are fulfilled, namely the state’s ongoing membership of international organizations and the application of all the international treaties signed by the Republic of Cyprus. “Complementary to these two safeguards, it is categorically declared that the secession or annexation, or union of any federated unit is prohibited with any other state,” he noted, adding that AKEL is right now working on and elaborating a proposal which it will propose to the President that he submits, “to meet the concerns expressed by some political parties,” and which provides that if any federated unit secedes, it will not gain the recognition from the international community.
According to Mr. Kyprianou, today we should focus our attention on the remaining important issues, “that is to say, the issue of executive power, the rotating presidency, the issue of effective participation which is a demand of the Turkish Cypriot side, the territorial issue which is associated with the property issue and the issue of security.”
The General Secretary of AKEL, inter alia, stated that those circles and forces who say that we must change our strategy on the Cyprus problem and pursue another course must remember where “bravado” policies lead us to each time they are followed. Furthermore, he stressed that AKEL struggles for the solution of the Cyprus problem based on the agreed principles, regardless of who the President of the Republic may be. “The easiest thing for us today would be to join with all the other opposition parties and behave towards the President in the same way he behaved towards Demetris Christofias from 2008 to 2013,” Andros Kyprianou pointed out. He expressed the view that, in such an eventuality “within a month we would have destroyed, along with the President, Cyprus and any prospect for a solution.”
Patriotism, he stressed, doesn’t mean consuming our time in empty rhetoric and engaging in bravado damaging our country, but instead patriotism means defending your country’s interests, even if they do not serve your petty-party considerations. AKEL’s role, he concluded, is not to destroy, but to build “and we want to build a better future for us, but in particular for the future generations. We therefore mustn’t be thinking only about the next elections, but about the future generations.”
