The Cyprus problem in need of a Solution Agenda! – Article by Giorgos T. Georgiou – Member of the Political Bureau, AKEL Limassol District Secretary

 

Sunday 10 April 2022, “Haravgi” newspaper

The Cyprus problem was, is and remains the greatest challenge for our country’s political life. Life itself proves every day that without a solution to the Cyprus problem there is neither a future, nor a perspective. In essence, what we need to put forward every day is the cry of anguish for Cyprus!

Approximately five years have passed since the collapse at the Crans Montana conference of Cyprus, confirming in practice that we are paying a heavy price for the absence of any negotiations. Turkey has gained an alibi and found room to develop its revisionist policies, which are characterised by an intransigent and aggressive attitude.

The government ruling forces bear a grave responsibility for the mistakes they have committed with regards the handling of the Cyprus problem. From portraying themselves as leaders of the solution, they are daily transforming themselves into protagonists of division and partition. It has finally been demonstrated that the “imaginative” ideas of Anastasiades about a decentralised or loose federation were not accidental. But neither were Anastasdiades’ statements about Turkey’s exploratory drilling next to our Exclusive Economic Zone accidental, nor certainly his unprecedented idea of returning to the 1960 Constitution. Most tragic of all, however, was his proposal for a two state solution, a fact confirmed by many forces and circles, with the Archbishop himself being quite revealing of Anastasiades’ intentions.

If we also add to all this the government ruling force’s response to the warnings AKEL had frequently issued that…through the trilateral meetings between Greece, Israel and Cyprus they had supposedly protected the Republic of Cyprus, that the European Union would impose sanctions Turkey, that Turkey has no exploratory ships (in the end Turkey had acquired 4) and that Turkey and the Turkish Cypriot leadership will not dare colonise the closed off city of Varosha, clearly revealed their criminal handling of the Cyprus problem. All these years the government ruling forces, N. Anastasiades and ruling DISY party, have done nothing but mock and mislead the people on the Cyprus problem.

It is precisely for this reason that the 2023 presidential elections may be the most crucial for our present and future. Cyprus, a small island, can no longer endure its division and partition – let alone the establishment of a hard border with Turkey, and indeed 180 kilometres long.

Some people are cultivating the impression that the prospect for a solution of Cyprus problem is over and therefore we do not need to concern ourselves with it much. That is why many people, due to the frustration accumulated over the years – as can be seen from surveys that have been carried out – are downplaying the importance of a solution to the Cyprus problem. As a result, political circles and forces are flirting with the logic of sidelining the Cyprus problem and relegating it to a secondary and insignificant status. Perhaps it suits certain political forces and circles are making themselves so that they can relieve themselves of their heavy responsibility for the deadlocks they have brought to the Cyprus problem.

We all have a duty and obligation to maintain the Cyprus problem as our top priority. Either Cyprus will be saved or it will sink and with it our people, children and grandchildren, and future generations. Life itself dictates that the presidential elections of 2023 should become the springboard for a solution of the Cyprus problem, for liberation and the peaceful reunification of our country and people.

Every political force must present well-documented positions – proposals and its vision for a solution to the Cyprus problem. We need more than ever before a solution agenda that will inspire the Cypriot people. A vision for the Cyprus of tomorrow that will not sink into the poverty and misery of the present, but will trace the present and project a promising future.