The debate opened by the President of the Republic is dangerous
AKEL on “decentralized” federation
Statement by AKEL C.C. Spokesperson Stefanos Stefanou
AKEL C.C. Press Office, 9 October 2018, Nicosia
The discussion that has been opened, under the responsibility of the President of the Republic, for a “decentralized” federation is dangerous and likely to open the bag of uncontrollable and extremely negative developments. This discussion, indeed at the same time as the UN Secretary-General is expected to take his decisions on the future of the negotiations, may trigger their torpedoing and in consequence lead to the consolidation of partition and towards a two-state solution.
The discussion about a “decentralized” federation is dangerous because it sends out the message to both the international community and the UN Secretary-General that the Greek Cypriot side is not sincere as regards its declared position for a resumption of the negotiations.
The debate opened by the President of the Republic annuls all that the UN Secretary-General is calling for, namely a resumption of the negotiations and puts us in conflict with him. We recall that Mr. Guterres is calling for a resumption of the negotiations from the point where they had remained at Crans Montana. Mr. Anastasiades is calling for negotiation from somewhere else. The UN Secretary-General is calling for negotiations on the basis of his own Framework and the six core issues for achieving a strategic agreement that he has set out. The President is raising issues that are outside of Mr. Guterres’ framework. Mr. Guterres is calling for the safeguarding of the convergences that have been achieved and Mr. Anastasiades is obviously opening them. We should know that when we open issues or raise new ones, then we give a pretext to the other side to also do so the same. How will we eventually reach an agreement?
Mr. Anastasiades raised the issue of a so-called “decentralized” federation also during the presidency of Demetris Christofias. The relevant discussion that took place has been recorded in the minutes of the National Council. Back then the question was put to Mr. Anastasiades which of the agreed competencies did he want to remove, but he still hasn’t given any answer on the issue. This time, we hope that Mr. Anastasiades will be in a position to say how many and what agreed competences of the central government – which let me say in passing, Mr. Anastasiades greatly increased in the negotiations – is he ready to concede to the constituent states?
We ask Mr. Anastasiades: Does he believe that bi-zonal, bicommunal federation, with political equality as described by the United Nations and with the rest of the residual powers vested in the constituent states, as he himself has agreed, constitute a centralized federation? And how much more decentralized does Mr. Anastasiades want federation to be?
The so-called “decentralized” federation does not solve any of the problems cited by the President. It does not solve the issues with regards guarantees and security. It does not solve the issue of executive power. It does not solve the issue of the so-called equal treatment of Greek and Turkish citizens and many other issues.
In addition, we also wonder whether Mr. Anastasiades consulted the Greek government before opening the debate about a “decentralized” federation? We pose this question because he certainly did not consult with the political leadership of Cyprus.
The President of the Republic has wrongly opened such an issue. He appears inconsistent with his declarations and raises questions about his intentions.
