AKEL: Tatar’s statements are extremely provocative
The election of Andreas Mavroyiannis can give hope for a solution to the Cyprus problem
5 October 2022, AKEL C.C. Press Office, Nicosia
For the umpteenth time, the occupation leader Ersin Tatar has made extremely provocative statements which worry every Cypriot who envisages a common future in a free and reunited homeland. The prolonged deadlock in which the Cyprus problem has been mired since the collapse of the Crans Montana talks is being used as an alibi for the delirium of intransigence of both Turkey and Tatar. The blunt threat that Turkey “within one hour may send additional military reinforcements to Cyprus”, the statements about further violations of the status quo in the enclosed town of Varosha and the repeated questioning of the agreed framework of the solution are disastrous side effects that need to be addressed immediately.
Unfortunately, everything that is happening suggests that as long as the passive passage of time continues and negotiations do not resume, the clouds of permanent partition will continue to gather. It is imperative that substantive and practical initiatives are taken to win back the lost credibility of the Greek Cypriot side and to make the resumption of the negotiations from where they had remained feasible.
But how can the Greek Cypriot side’s lost credibility internationally and with the Turkish Cypriot community be won back so long as those responsible for the backsliding, the mishandling and the questioning of the convergences remain at the helm of the Republic of Cyprus?
There is only one option that can give a perspective to the hope for a solution to the Cyprus problem. And that is none other than the election of Andreas Mavroyiannis to the highest office of the Republic of Cyprus. Averof Neophytou and Nikos Christodoulides, who clearly declare themselves to be co-creators and continuators of the manifestly failed policy of Anastasiades, do not constitute an option capable of effectively addressing the nightmarish reality we are living today.
