By ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΑ (GREEK) TÜRKÇE (TURKISH)
I don’t know what the party leaders ask Nikos Christodoulides in the National Council, and of course, I don’t know what he answers, but of all the journalists he meets in the afternoons and evenings when he cuts ribbons, lays stones and unveils busts, no journalist has ever asked him directly: Does he accept the Guterres framework and the convergences or not? When he says that he accepts negotiations within the agreed framework, does he mean that he accepts the Guterres framework? Does he accept it as it stands, or with conditions and the intention of renegotiating its terms? Does he accept the convergences or will he renegotiate those too?
I have noticed that DISY and AKEL speak clearly in their announcements as well as in the statements of their leaders, Annita Demetriou and Stefanos Stefanou, about the need for a clear response on the acceptance of the Guterres framework and the convergences up until Crans-Montana. But, I don’t know whether the two of them in the National Council are demanding that the President make his position clear and whether he is making it clear.
The morning the day before yesterday, the deputy government spokesman, Yiannis Antoniou, the most precise spokesman of the government, spoke on Trito Programma [CyBC radio station], and instead of providing an answer, he evaded in a way that undermined his intelligence. Dear Eleni Vrettou called on him to say “clearly” whether the government accepts the Guterres framework and he replied that “we accept the framework in principle” and went on: “But de facto – and it is a position of our side since 2017 to this day – it cannot be accepted in an absolute way because on some points it will have to be negotiated (…) It is not something absolute that each side can sign. It is not a solution plan.”
First of all, what does it mean to accept a proposal “in principle” that was in fact repeated 2-3 times by the representative? What is certain, however, is that the proposal is rejected anyway, since “on some points it will have to be negotiated”. The Guterres framework is not offered selectively. That is, Tatar rejects it in its entirety and Christodoulides rejects part of it? Mr Antoniou was asked to clarify exactly what our side wants to be negotiated, and he gave an incomprehensible answer: “First of all, we want the other side to accept the issue of guarantees regarding the withdrawal of troops.” In other words, we do not accept the issue of guarantees and withdrawal of troops unless the other side accepts it? And what else is our side asking to be negotiated?
Even the cats have realised that after seven years of stalemate and after the Turkish side’s distancing from the federation solution, Cyprus has reached the brink of definitive partition. The international community is putting before us a framework for a solution to the Cyprus problem in what is clearly a last-ditch effort, and our political leadership complains, “but the other side does not accept it”, and even asks to renegotiate it. But the president is going to the dinner table strengthened.
