‘US lackeys and extreme nationalists’
By Stefanos Evripidou
THE GAP between the two pro-solution parties AKEL and DISY grew wider yesterday after a leaked AKEL document described DISY officials as being either “US lackeys” or “extreme nationalists”.
According to yesterday’s Alithia, a leaked AKEL document allegedly intended for senior officials spoke of DISY as being split into two groups, those who are servile to the US, and an extremist nationalist wing. The document also accused former DISY leader and President, Glafcos Clerides, as being responsible for the Annan plan.
AKEL spokesman Stavros Evagorou claimed ignorance yesterday, saying he was not aware of the document, which he said had not been distributed to the ruling party’s official organs, the politburo and central committee.
Christos Christofides, a member of AKEL’s central committee, cleared up the mystery later in the day, clarifying in a written statement that the document was not an official AKEL document, but an informative document circulated among the AKEL youth group EDON.
Apart from informing students on the Cyprus problem, it also responded to extreme provocations from other factions against AKEL, President Demetris Christofias and the left-wing in general.
“We regret that the document was attributed to AKEL and its higher organs without cross-checking the facts,” said Christofides.
However, the damage had already been done and the jibes had reached their target. DISY spokesman Haris Georgiades called on AKEL directly to confirm or deny the existence of such a policy document published in Alithia.
At a time when AKEL talks publicly about unity and overreacts to criticisms of Christofias’ policies, it doesn’t hesitate to dish out unacceptable characterisations on DISY officials like “US lackey” and “whimsical”, said Georgiades, “Regardless of the fact that the most severe criticisms against Christofias’ policy comes from their own coalition partners”.
Speaking after a meeting of DISY”s executive, the spokesman said the party continued to believe that during these critical times, the needs of the country had to be put before ideological differences, though they be many.
Meanwhile, DISY leader Nicos Anastassiades had a phone conversation with Christofias yesterday to brief him on his meetings abroad. He said he would inform the President in the coming days on his party’s views on the ‘executive’ proposal in the direct talks.
The DISY leader said the issue of a rotating presidency in a united federal Cyprus was concluded long ago, through the 2005 codification of positions, and later through a series of statements made by the late president Tassos Papadopoulos.
“I have the impression this should be considered as something that was accepted,” he said. The essence was less the rotating presidency, which coalition partners EDEK and DIKO have directly opposed, and more the capabilities of the president to resolve differences.
On the equally divisive issue of weighted votes, whereby the Greek Cypriot votes for a Turkish Cypriot presidential candidate would be weighted based on the population ratio between the two communities, Anastassiades said to an extent this was a fair proposal to avoid the majority imposing its will on the minority.
“What we should consider is how this weighted vote will work in the future,” he said.
According to reports from the state broadcaster yesterday, DISY may propose changes to the executive proposal, including capping the proportion of weighted votes to protect the Greek Cypriot vote against an upsurge in the Turkish Cypriot population.
DIKO spokesman Fotis Fotiou once again voiced his party’s disagreement with any kind of rotating presidency, particularly one with weighted votes for the Greek Cypriot electorate.
“The argument that a rotating presidency has been already accepted because it was included in the Annan plan does not stand for us from the moment that the people rejected this plan,” he said.
The above article is quite interesting!
The article itself is intrinsically flawed, and designed to trick the Cypriot masses by classifying both AKEL and DISY as "pro solution" parties, even though it is these 2 parties, with their extreme ideologies which were ultimately responsible for the destruction of Cyprus, and it is these 2 parties that are tirelessly working for the "final solution" against the Cypriot people, by selling out our basic democratic and human rights principles as enshrined within the EU Charter!
Stafanos Evripides must think that Cypriots are stupid, because his bias is most certainly uncovered by labeling the 2 most destructive parties in Cyprus as "pro solution". Someone should ask him if he considers both DIKO and EDEK to be "pro solution". This very clever piece of journalism seems to imply that this is not the case and that both DIKO and EDEK are anti solution parties leaving his clever methodology exposed for all to analyse and be weary of. He should also be informed that DIKO and EDEK are NOT anti solution, but are most certainly pro solution parties, but not at the expense of our dignity, democratic and human rights which will formalise Apartheid in Cyprus, and where one group of people will be discriminated against due to their race. Furthermore, such an outcome can NEVER be considered a solution to the Cyprus Problem, but the exact opposite...
As stated earlier, I feel that both AKEL and DISY are the 2 most destructive political forces in Cyprus. DISY is destructive because it harbours MANY neo nationalists of the EOKA B variety, who were instrumental in ousting the Makarios Government and thus pave the way for Turkey's invasion of Cyprus, and also because it probably DOES serve US imperial interests in Cyprus, as stated by the AKEL/EDON leaked document. AKEL is destructive, because just like DISY, it too has an extremist political ideology, albeit at the opposite end of the political spectrum, and also because in the 60s and 70s, it served Soviet interests in the East Mediterranean at the height of the cold war, even though Cyprus was pushing for non alignment at the time, thus earning Makarios the unwarranted reputation of being the "Red Priest" or the Mediterranean's very own "Fidel Castro", thus motivating US imperialist forces to lay the ground work within Greece and Cyprus, by mobilising the very same traitors within DISY to oust Makarios by engineering the most disastrous event in Cypriot history, on 15 Jul 74!
Cypriots will one day understand that both DISY and AKEL, the 2 "pro solution" parties in Cyprus, will be our demise. The former from a policy of "defeatism", and the latter for its most extreme "nationalism" and for its betrayal of Cyprus by serving foreign interests.
The 2 "anti solution" parties of DIKO and EDEK, with their moderate political ideologies are the real pro solution parties, because they will strive for a fair and workable solution encompassing ALL democratic and human rights of ALL citizens without betraying these rights, something AKEL and DISY have never done.
It is such a relief that the GAP between AKEL and DISY is widening, because the last thing the RoC needs is for these destructive forces in Cyprus to bridge their differences and form an alliance. If such a calamity ever took place, then Cypriots should prepare for the "final solution" in Cyprus.....
Such gutter journalism, you can only expect from the Cyprus Mail - the mouthpiece of US/UK imperialist and pro Turkish interests....