Anastasiades: The division must not become permanent

The island’s current division must not be allowed to become permanent, President Nicos Anastasiades said, ahead of the 40th anniversary of the Turkish invasion.

In a statement to Cyprus News Agency, Anastasiades expressed the belief that current conditions allow a win-win solution of the Cyprus problem, provided the Turkish Cypriot side and Turkey understand this.

He noted that a solution that will safeguard the rights of Greek Cypriots, without denying the rights of Turkish Cypriots, was feasible and would have political, social and financial benefits.

“With the Cyprus problem solved, there will be more opportunities to exploit the hydrocarbon reserves in the Eastern Mediterranean and create conditions of reconciliation between Greece and Turkey,” he said.

“At the same time the solution will help consolidate feelings of stability and bring significant investments to the benefit of all the legal inhabitants of the country.”

Anastasiades added that the future of the country and its children would be brighter and more hopeful if the obstacles were overcome and the dividing lines were abolished through a federal Cyprus in which the EU acquis communautaire would be applicable from Paphos to Karpasia and from Limassol to Kyrenia.

Describing the invasion as a tragic event, the president said “the expulsion of the Greek population from the occupied part of Cyprus, the settlement of all Turkish Cypriots in the northern part of Cyprus and the organized colonization of the occupied areas by Turkey, have created a new reality on the ground.”

He warned of the risk of “this temporary” state of affairs turning permanent.

“What I am concerned and anxious about is not to allow the permanent division of Cyprus. My message on the occasion of this anniversary is that we have to prevent this tragedy from completing its course.”

Asked about current prospects of a political settlement, the president expressed the belief that “today we have the prerequisites that will allow a win-win solution as long as the Turkish Cypriot side and Turkey understand this.”

Cyprus, he added, has a regional role to play which is much greater than its size, once its political problem is resolved. “The geopolitical balance in the region is being redesigned,” he said.

Facts can’t be altered

Facts are what make history and cannot be falsified, President Nicos Anastasiades said on Tuesday, responding to accusations from opposition party AKEL’s general secretary Andros Kyprianou, the Cyprus Mail reports.


Kyprianou had accused the government and Anastasiades of a systematic attempt to “falsify history and whitewash the US involvement in planning the July 15 coup.”


Kyprianou was referring to Makarios Drousiotis, a journalist and researcher who recently published a book called The Invasion and the Big Powers in which he challenges the long-held belief among Cypriots that the coup was US backed and that the Soviet Union’s – and later Russia’s – support is just a myth.
Since Anastasiades came to power, Drousiotis has been working in the president’s press office.
According to reports in Alithia, Drousiotis will be appointed to Brussels to work with Christos Stylianides who is expected to be appointed as Cyprus’ EU Commissioner in the place of Androulla Vasiliou.

“Facts cannot be changed either by leaders or writers. Facts are what made history and facts cannot be changed,” said Anastasiades.
The president was talking to the press following a memorial service for those who died in the July 15, 1974 coup.

“The day is dedicated to those that gave their life to protect democracy and freedom,” said Anastasiades, adding that he hopes that events like that don’t take place ever again.

You’ve tired us

Giorgos Kaskanis writing in Politis wonders where else in the world are sad events in history commemorated with political wrangles.

This situation hasn’t just come about by chance. It’s the result of years of unaccountability, of the guilty being rewarded, of history being viewed myopically, of all of us being unwilling to face up to our own responsibilities. It’s the result of us only having a vague idea of what we want and how we will achieve it, of not having a collective culture which could provide the answers we are seeking and prevent the undesirable results. It’s also the result of our politicians trying desperately to differentiate themselves from each other, at a time when we all know all their policies have failed.

We’re tired of them. Instead of remembering the dead, thinking about how we got to where we are today and how we can move forward, we’re forced to listen to our politicians arguing with each other, and end up following their immaturities.

Dear Republic of Cyprus, I’m sorry but I will not be attending

Yiannos C Ioannou writing in his blog O Stroviliotis, publishes an invitation from the President and Party Leaders to an event at the Presidential Palace to commemmorate the Turkish invasion, saying that he will not be attending.

For forty years now we’ve been subjected to lies and deceptions about the Cyprus problem. Why should I go and be subjected to more fairy tales? Why should I go and listen to the party leaders taking us for a ride? I’ve lived my whole life with the Cyprus problem and its propaganda and I no longer see any meaning to an event without there being any sign of a will to put an end to these lost decades. I just don’t see it happening, he says. I don’t see it from this president in whom I believed would rise to the occasion when the opportunity arose, but in whom I see less and less a sign that he is in the slightest bit concerend for that day to come. Nor the parties DISY and AKEL who aren’t being proactive.