The President must ask himself why all those who are against Bi-zonal, Bi-communal Federation are supporting him today
Statements by the General Secretary of the C.C. of AKEL A.Kyprianou on the Cyprus problem
AKEL C.C. Press Office, 4th November 2019, Nicosia
I would like to express AKEL’s deep regret and displeasure about the President of the Republic’s statements yesterday, in which the President in essence implies that AKEL serves the interests – I don’t know what – of Turkey and the Turkish Cypriots. I don’t know what Mr. Anastasiades meant.
We have reached the point, according to the logic Mr. Anastasiades has propagated over the last two and a half years, where those who support a solution of the Cyprus problem, who believe that our country must be reunified and who consider that the refugees should have the right to choose the return to their homes and properties to be perceived as enemies of the state, enemies of the government. This is the logic being promoted by Mr. Anastasiades, who must ask himself why all those forces and circles who are against the solution of Bi-zonal, Bi-communal Federation are currently supporting him, indeed I would say some of them very strongly.
It is sad because we have reached this point. We as AKEL will not stop expressing our concern about where developments are being led to. We will reiterate that in view of the upcoming 25th November trilateral meeting, our goal should have been how we maximize the possibilities for this meeting to yield positive results and to create the preconditions for a meaningful dialogue that will lead to a solution within the agreed framework. I stress this point because I would like to reiterate that we have never, and I challenge Mr. Anastasiades to state otherwise, never demanded that there should be any concessions on issues/positions of principles so that we can move in the direction of a solution of the Cyprus problem.
I’ll just add something else. Namely, that those who are facilitating Turkey are precisely those forces and circles who, by their tactics, do not force it to sit at the negotiating table and oblige it to express their position on the substance of the Cyprus problem.
To conclude, I would like to say that I have canceled tomorrow’s scheduled meeting with the President of the Republic. I think it would not make sense for such a meeting to take place bearing in mind the climate that has evolved after Mr. Anastasiades’ statements. We would essentially have spent the time dwelling on whether AKEL serves the interests of anyone other than Greek Cypriots. If and provided that Mr. Anastasiades decides that this is not what he wanted to say then I am at his disposal for a new meeting to be arranged and to discuss any issues. Finally, let me say to Mr. Anastasiades that it is the people of Cyprus who judge us and evaluate what interests we truly represent.
