Stefanos Stefanou was particularly outspoken on Sunday during his speech at the event for Derviş Ali Kavazoğlu and Kostas Misiaoulis, urging President Christodoulides to convene the National Council.
He called for informing the political leadership and hearing the opinions of others who are concerned about the country, saying, Because Nikos Christodoulides revealed that he has a proposal from the UN Secretary-General, and the political leadership is unaware.
“We do not know what these proposals are, to judge the claims made by President Christodoulides that he accepted from the UN Secretary-General,” Mr. Stefanou said.
He is absolutely right. Although he clearly raises the stakes due to upcoming elections and adds a dramatic tone to his interventions. On the other hand, however.
The reality is that the President himself creates the conditions for the party melodrama.
When he rushes to publicly say that he was made a proposal by Guterres and that he accepted it, it is only natural that party leaders will seek clarification. And if they have no information, they will turn it into a major pre-election issue.
Now, the anxiety has been added to by the escalation in the region…
“If the President considers it unnecessary to convene the National Council for Cyprus, at least let him convene it for the risk of wider escalation in the region,” Mr. Stefanou said.
“He has an obligation to do so; we demand that he does it because we need to see how we protect our Cyprus.”
Here’s where the melodrama comes in: “Mr. Christodoulides, Cyprus is in a volatile region. You have an obligation to convene the National Council, at least to hear the political forces. (…) We want, we care, we worry, and we want to express our opinion to protect our Cyprus. To see how we promote peace in the region and globally.”
It’s a way of saying it, indeed. I don’t think Mr. Stefanou believes that the National Council will convene and promote peace “in the region and globally.”
He can’t even promote peace in Cyprus! But, the essence is that President Christodoulides creates impressions and unnecessary tension when he sees microphones in front of him.
What’s the point of publicly stating that Guterres gave him proposals during their meeting in Brussels (March 21) and that he accepted them?
Since then, all party leaders have called on him to inform them about these proposals. And let everyone know that they are not groundbreaking proposals that will bring a solution. They are obviously ideas for the envoy’s process.
Moreover, when he met with Ersin Tatar, he said it. “There have been some discussions about how the envoy can continue her mission” (April 5), he said when asked if Guterres also gave him proposals.
He even explained that Ms. Holguín had spent her three months, and now “we will see how she can continue until she completes her mission, until the completion of the six months.”
In other words, let’s drag the others along for the remaining three months and then send them packing.
This is the situation with the “other side,” and here we are setting up scenarios for secret proposals (supposedly!) and for the National Council, which if Christodoulides rushes to convene it an hour earlier, the country will be saved, not only from the unsolvable Cyprus issue but also from the escalation in the region.
The concern of the country’s leaders at this moment should be how to utilise the upgraded role of the Republic of Cyprus, precisely because of the escalation, to prompt interventions towards Turkey.
From the US and Europeans, especially. Not now, of course, because now no one will bother, but soon. Not to get bogged down with the escalation and disappear, as always, forgetting what they are saying today about Cyprus’s role.
But it requires diplomacy and methodical work, not chit-chat and melodramas.
