Frustration in govt after Disy letter published

Bickering between the government and opposition Disy continued Friday over a letter published by party leader Annita Demetriou after a National Council meeting last week.

In her letter, Demetriou voiced an opinion that the government needed to start convincing the international community of its will to solve the Cyprus issue, and that otherwise there would be fatigue.

Members of government were frustrated not only by the fact that Demetriou’s letter was given to the media, but also the timing of the move, which coincided with President Christodoulides’ absence from Cyprus.

Speaking to CyBC, deputy government spokesman Yiannis Antoniou said they had been taken aback by the letter as a matter of political ethics, as Demetriou was technically president while Christodoulides was abroad.

On top of that, he added that the letter had been sent just before the submission of the report by UN Secretary-General’s personal envoy for Cyprus, Maria Angela Holguin, on her six months of trying to find common ground for negotiations on the Cyprus issue.

“It was not good timing,” Antoniou said.

According to Antoniou, Demetriou had never proposed the things she said in her letter at any National Council meeting.

He also said Demetriou had revealed confidential information in her letter about EU-Turkey relations, and how they would need Cyprus’ consensus to move forward.

“Ms. Demetriou didn’t say anything at the National Council and only said she would send her proposals in a letter,” Antoniou said.

Antoniou made additional comment on a point in Demetriou’s letter where she called on the president to publicly and personally reject proposals put before the National Council in the public eye which refer to rejecting a BBF, political equality or closing checkpoints.

The deputy government spokesman said: “His position is to have a BBF solution.”

He added that the president when speaking with the UNSG or his envoys is accountable for his position and trustworthiness to stick to what is on the negotiating table.

“At that moment, there are no problems or substance issues from other parties on the table,” he said.

Responding on CyBC following Antoniou, Disy spokesman Onoufrios Koullas said that Demetriou published the letter because she had not been informed beforehand of the developments President Nikos Christodoulides mentioned at the National Council meeting.

He added that the government’s issue with the timing of the letter “shows that there is apathy on where we are and where the situation is,” as regards the Cyprus problem.

“If the government is commenting in this way, then they don’t realise the seriousness of the matter,” he added.

Koullas said that Demetriou had gone to the National Council meeting to ask questions on where some matters stood and instead found developments on certain issues which she was not informed about.

“We want to know beforehand so we can voice our opinions at the time of the National Council and not find out afterwards,” he said.

He said that had Demetriou been informed, she would have brought the issues up at the meeting and not in a letter.