Statements by the General Secretary of AKEL S.Stefanou
- The government must first convince the UN and the UN Security Council
- Anastasiades bears grave responsibilities for the stalemate
- The President must take specific initiatives
24 June 2023, ‘Astra’ radio station
The situation surrounding the Cyprus problem is desperate and what needs to be done is for President N. Christodoulides to take specific initiatives, the General Secretary of AKEL Stefanos Stefanou pointed out. Speaking on “Astra” radio and commenting on the initiatives that the President of the Republic of Cyprus says he is taking, St. Stefanou said that what matters is the type and content of the initiative, but also its end result. AKEL, he added, considers that the President of the Republic of Cyprus is insisting in a one-sided way on the involvement of the EU on the Cyprus problem.
The General Secretary of AKEL explained that the Cyprus problem is being discussed within the framework of the UN and the EU itself, as at least two Council decisions refer to, in 2020 and 2021, where it is stated that it [the EU] is ready to contribute in an active way to the solution of the Cyprus problem provided that negotiations resume under the auspices of the UN. For that reason, the first people the President of the Republic should have turned to was the Secretary General of the UN and the UN Security Council to convince them that the Greek Cypriot side does have the sincere and genuine political will to move towards a solution.
This, S.Stefanou added, must be done because Anastasiades has ensured that the Greek Cypriot side has its lost credibility. If they don’t believe us, we will not yield any results. He noted that under the DISY government, Cyprus’ credibility was destroyed both with regards the Cyprus problem, as well as in terms of investor credibility due to our country’s exposure in the “golden passports” case.
The General Secretary of AKEL reiterated that AKEL does not object to the issue of a positive agenda, but added that we should not forget that Mr. Christodoulides, as Foreign Minister {in the DISY Anastasiades government], was at the forefront of a campaign to get the EU to impose sanctions against Turkey, despite warnings that this measure would not result in anything positive.
S.Stefanou also underlined that AKEL believes that the Euro-Turkish factor is not sufficient to unleash the potential incentives and bring Turkey back [to the negotiating table] and that energy issues should be put in the centre of the table, because Turkey is linking the Cyprus problem with energy issues and not with European ones.
Anastasiades’ responsibility is grave
The General Secretary of AKEL also said that there has never been such a prolonged stalemate and complete stagnation on the Cyprus problem. We have been in a deadlock since 2017, with the Greek Cypriot side being held jointly responsible for the deadlock and the inability to create a dynamic for the resumption of the negotiations from the point where they had remained at Crans-Montana. This situation is not accidental, but has to do with the erroneous policy pursued by Anastasiades, especially since Crans Montana and onwards, without this meaning that he did not previously engage in his backtrackings, regressions and erroneous actions.
Anastasiades bears a grave responsibility, but this does not diminish Turkey’s responsibility. However, at the same time as Turkey is being negative and provocative, one should not facilitate it and indeed without Turkey suffering any cost [for its actions].
