The truth about the Crans-Montana conference is being distorted by Anastasiades – History will be unforgiving with him
Statements by AKEL MP and former AKEL GS Andros Kyprianou:
11 November 2025
The former General Secretary of AKEL, Andros Kyprianou, said he feels a strong need to intervene, not to defend Christos Stylianides, but to defend the truth that the President of the Republic, Nicos Anastasiades, is trying to distort.
- Kyprianou stressed that he does not know what was said at the College of Commissioners of the EU, but he knows what Ms. Mogherini told him personally, whom he met many times after the collapse of the talks at Crans-Montana. Ms Mogherini, who was present at the working dinner at Crans-Montana, pointed out that she had described what happened that evening that was very different from Nikos Anastasiades’ account.
The former Secretary General of AKEL also stated that he knows what the Greek Prime Minister told him that same evening, while the working dinner was taking place, noting that what he told him differs greatly and clashes with what Mr. Anastasiades is trying to convince the Cypriot people happened.
- Kyprianou stressed that he will refer to all this in more detail in the book he will publish on the Cyprus problem. At the same time, he pointed out that there is one question that is difficult for former President Anastasiades to answer: the UN Secretary-General’s report on the developments at Crans-Montana, which was prepared in September 2017. The UN report was circulated as a draft to the members of the UN Security Council and interested parties, with instructions for them to submit any comments (on the report). N. Anastasiades did not submit any comments, with the result that the report became an official UN document.
- Kyprianou emphasized that the report states many things, and specifically in paragraph 18, at the end, the following: “Regardless of their public rhetoric, in my private and in-depth discussions with ALL WITHOUT EXCEPTION (my emphasis) the guarantor powers, I found that they were willing to cooperate in order to overcome differences and reach an agreement.”
Andros Kyprianou stressed that UN Secretary General Guterres says that Turkey wanted to cooperate to reach an agreement, and that N. Anastasiades did not dispute this fact, allowing it to be recorded as history in an official UN document.
The AKEL MP said that he had asked President Anastasiades many times, both in National Council meetings and in public, why he had taken this stance, but had never received an answer. “My interpretation is simple. He did not dare, because Guterres presided over the working dinner and knew exactly what had happened,” he added.
Andros Kyprianou stressed that by writing this, he is not “exonerating” Turkey for its brutal invasion and ongoing occupation, considering that Turkey bears the main responsibility for the situation in our long-suffering country. However, he accuses Mr. Anastasiades of making it easier for Turkey to exonerate itself in the eyes of the international community with his actions and political stance at Crans-Montana, instead of making things difficult for Turkey.
Finally, A. Kyprianou stressed that “instead of distorting history (Mr. Anastasiades), it would be better if he didnt attempt to salvage his reputation. He can be sure that history will be unforgiving with him. Both for the way he handled the Cyprus problem and for how much he exposed Cyprus to corruption scandals,” he concluded.
