Statement by the General Secretary of AKEL Andros Kyprianou after the meeting of the National Council
Cyprus News Agency, 19th June 2017, Nicosia
AKEL General Secretary Andros Kyprianou called on all political leaders to appear united at the Crans-Montana conference so as to reinforce the effort President Nicos Anastasiades is making.
At the same time, he stated that the new conference might be the most decisive of all the meetings that have taken place in recent years and said we must be well prepared.
Mr. Kyprianou, in his statements after today’s session of the National Council, said that the political leaders were briefed by the President of the Republic about what is being discussed regarding their trip to Crans-Montana. “We are not surprised by the developments as we had predicted that things would eventually evolve in that way,” he said.
“We think that this meeting,” the General Secretary of AKEL noted, “will probably be the most decisive of all the meetings that have taken place in recent years. It is therefore extremely important to go well prepared and, at the same time, it is equally important to be as united as possible or at least to seek to portray a different picture than the previous cases.”
Mr. Kyprianou said that he has “addressed an appeal to the political parties. We do not demand from anybody to abandon their positions and which he/she will express on the Cyprus problem. We have said that we should at long last put for once the interests of Cyprus over and above everything else, not petty-party interests. We have called on the political parties to agree to a ceasefire, to abstain from issuing statements, especially during the time we will be in Crans-Montana. By doing so we believe that the effort that will be undertaken by Mr. Anastasiades will be enhanced, thus strengthening the negotiating position of the Republic of Cyprus and at the same time it will enable us, in a better climate, to discuss at the National Council, which should be convening and meeting at all times.”
Replying to a question as to whether there was a response from the other parties to this appeal, Mr. Kyprianou said that certain political leaders have said they could not work in that way. “I regret it because I repeat, at long last, Cyprus’s interests should be put over and above any petty-party interests or whatever political ambitions anyone might possibly have,” he said.
“It is naive,” the General Secretary of AKEL pointed out, “to think that one can capitalize on anything from now on until the presidential election. I think that at this precise moment it is important to see how we are all working together to do our best in this difficult effort. Believe me, we will have many months ahead of us until February when the presidential elections will be held for everyone to project the image of the society they want to build.”
Replying to another question, he said that the security issues “for us are extremely important. We cannot under any circumstances accept any guarantor rights or rights of intervention from Turkey. Beyond that, a proposal (on the security issue) was submitted in the past by Mr. Anastasiades, in cooperation with the Greek government. We believe that this proposal provides a good basis for waging further discussions. What we will achieve, let’s all judge it together there in Crans-Montana, if and provided that Turkey demonstrates a good will to seriously discuss the issues of security.”
