“Guilty silence from Mr. Averof Neophytou and Mr. Nikos Christodoulides”.
11 October 2022, Press Release Andreas Mavroyiannis
In the aftermath of the provocative actions and statements made two years after the opening of the enclosed area of Famagusta, Mr. Averof Neophytou and Mr. Nikos Christodoulides maintain a guilty silence. As those who have the political responsibility for the handling of the Famagusta issue and as the main protagonists in the handling of the Cyprus problem over the last decade, they should have already taken a stand, not only on what happened, but also on what must be done.
If Turkey continues unabated in its plans to create a fait accompli, as it has been allowed to do in recent years, no one should doubt what the outcome will be: The permanent partition of Cyprus. Andreas Mavroyiannis has already set out clear and unequivocal positions on how we can prevent permanent partition and how we can move forward to resume the talks and towards a just, viable and workable solution.
On the contrary, his two main rivals are ranting about other things.
Mr Neophytou, on the one hand, sticks to his position in favor of Cyprus’ membership of NATO, without being able to substantiate how this will help Cyprus, break the deadlock and give a perspective to the solution of the Cyprus problem.
Mr Christodoulides, who said months ago that he does not feel he has made the wrong assessment on the Famagusta issue, is trying to balance on the delicate thread of the different positions of the parties supporting his candidacy. Therefore, instead of DIKO inventing issues out of thin air in order to find supposed inconsistencies in Mr Mavroyiannis’ positions and to submit questions that have been answered a thousand times, it would do well if they were to ask Mr Christodoulides if he would be willing to answer the question whether he feels he has his conscience clear about the handling he made on the Famagusta issue, whether he has decided which course he wants to follow for the solution of the Cyprus problem and which concrete steps he wants to take to achieve the resumption of the talks.
At this stage, there is no room for any minced words and answers with asterisks and footnotes. Either we speak to the people sincerely and in a concrete way or we permit Turkish designs to swallow Cyprus up for the sake of gaining ‘political capital’.