BIRDS OF A FEATHER FLOCK TOGETHER
A big political bombshell was dropped during his speech at the debate on the 2025 state budget, at the plenary session of the House of Representatives, on Tuesday 17.12.2024, by former president of DISY, Averof Neophytou. He underlined that according to his assessment there will be no discussion of a bizonal bicommunal federation solution at the (upcoming) informal expanded meeting on the Cyprus problem, but instead what will be discussed will be the full autonomy of the two communities.
Averof Neophytou said that 2004 and 2017 “were the end of the BBF” and explained: “No one will talk at that table about BBF. They will see two realities. And they will try in this plot of land called Cyprus to restrict the area that will be inhabited mainly by Turkish Cypriots. It will go to 28%-29%, the remaining 70%-72% will be the area that will be predominantly inhabited by the Greek Cypriots, with a full autonomy of the two communities”
According to Averof Neophytou’s analysis, a new attempt is now being made for an informal expanded international conference, which if held will be within a strict timeframe and without naming the form of the solution, and he stressed: “We have managed for years to argue among ourselves about the bizonal bicommunal federation but at the moment the United Nations and the UN Secretary General are not concerned with names, as reflected in the latest UN reports, as well as in the communiqué after last October’s dinner.” Finally, he said that the informal expanded conference on the Cyprus problem will take place but that “no one at that table will talk about BBF”.
This bombshell intervention was swallowed by the guilty partisan audience of the plenary like soda-pop. Basically, he told all his colleagues that a solution of full autonomy for the two communities was imminent and there was no reaction whatsoever! Not one of those who denounced a BBF solution and proclaimed devotion to the unattainable because of the coup and Turkish invasion stood up to condemn Averoff to hellfire. Nor did anyone give him a genuine round of applause. They all remained silent because someone had decided to talk about the elephant in the room
The ungodly Averoff said outright that 2004 and 2017 “were the end of the BBF” and described the Akinci Map: “in this plot of land called Cyprus, they will restrict the area that will be predominantly inhabited by Turkish Cypriots to 28%-29%, and the remaining 70%-72% will be the area that will be predominantly inhabited by Greek Cypriots, with a full autonomy of the two communities”
“And they’re going to put a ceiling on top of us. For Europe and the United Nations, with just a few powers – 6-7. That’s what we can expect. And neither should we expect that we will enter into negotiations for years and years or even decades. In short, they’re on to us now, they’ve put up too long with Makarios, Dountas, Tassos and the descendants, and now that they (meaning the Americans) are in charge, they will impose the solution that the two sides reached at the negotiating table over so many years of discussing every last detail. However, because they did not dare to lose the status quo they took to the streets with national banners shouting, “no”.
Now, however, the situation can no longer stand the “brats” (arrogant or even spoilt) of the Cypriot political establishment undermining the long-lasting settlement efforts after 1974 without any consequences. Because now the situation in the region is very explosive as the borders in the Middle East from Israel to Iran are being reshaped. The US has found an ideal base on which build a major control centre in Cyprus, which it has freed from Russian control and has neither the inclination nor the luxury of allowing loose ends to be created by adventurist party political and ecclesiastical leaders who plunder the money-making source, the existing status quo. We had written on the basis of very recent events, how the Corruption System is siphoning off public money at the very time it proclaims to be fighting corruption, starting with “the Vasilikos Terminal which was given without a tender (cf. with a kickback) to a Chinese consortium, which had been attempted in Greece without success and now the Cypriot taxpayer is faced with a black hole of almost a billion dollars and with the vessel Prometheus “captured” in Singapore
The act took place under the Anastasiades government and Lakkoptrypis’ Ministry. The Audit Office issued a warning, and the Auditor General was dismissed (by the Attorney-General’s Office and the Supreme Court) as unfit for his duties! We were asked to pay in advance for Great Sea Interconnector project through our electricity bills. Fortunately, the US intervened and a less “blood-sucking” solution will probably be found. The plans for the Larnaca Port and Marina sank and the Kition consortium withdrew for a project of vital importance to the city that has been underway for years and the US will probably have a hand in getting it done again.
The Pafos-Polis Chrysochous road fell into a bottomless pit, so big that the contractor needed almost another five years to complete it. Who knows if we shall ever be lucky enough to see it! The works at Liopetri River that were supposed to be finished last year will supposedly need another three years to be completed. All this is the fault of the great Anastasiades gang, whose life and times are continuing thanks to the Christodoulides government. Every time you hear about a delay, be wary of the fact that there is talk of additional millions, which we taxpayers will be asked to pay
Unless the US plans in the framework of the Strategic Dialogue with Cyprus succeed and our country achieves what was once unthinkable as a place to host US, French and other Western alliance troops: To become, instead of the great geopolitical player of the region that it thought it could be, the host of the big players and thus definitively obtain the security it needs and collect a very fat “rent”, at a ratio of 7-3 and birds of a feather flock together!
The US is not really interested in an BBF solution or any other solution. They have identified the solution from the negotiating material and are promoting it through the UN: autonomy for the two communities, TC 28%-29%, GC 70%-72% and a ceiling by EU and UN with 6-7 powers and let whoever dares oppose it!
This article was originally published on 22.12.2024.