Critical times for Cyprus

The multi-TV broadcast attracted a nationwide audience in expectations to hear the president’s message on policy matters and his plans to improve the morale and the economic plight of citizens; citizens that have been bombarded with punitive taxation; rising costs of essentials, poverty and the improvement of harsh living conditions facing the nation!

The public’s anticipation of hearing encouraging plans did not materialize and neither did they hear any new measures to ease citizen’s anxieties. Other than his recurring dismissive monologue, full of self-praise and blaming outside forces for the county’s problems, viewers were in fact curious as to why the president bothered with such a meaningless charade? The select panel of journalists seemed at a loss and did not receive answers to their questions but rather a well-orchestrated dismissive spin.

Under the existing aggressive and bullying tactics, Mr Chrystodoulides is adamant to negotiate a Bi-Zonal, Bi-Communal Federation (BBF). He seems to ignore or refuses to accept realities that Turkey’s word of honour cannot be trusted—the very reason the Ottoman Empire lost Cyprus to Great Britain in 1878 and signing the Peace Treaty of Lausanne in 1923.

A career bureaucrat, ex-foreign minister and secretary to the former president, Mr Chrystodoulides played a pivotal role in policy-making of the Anastasiades government. He played an integral part in the current problems facing Cyprus and those persons that caused them in the first place cannot solve those same problems!

Faced by Turkey’s intransigence, the president continues to dismiss Erdogan’s threats and persists to negotiate an apartheid-style solution for Cyprus. His obsession to negotiate a BBF offers room for speculation!

Old Tales

Yet, without public consent, the Cyprus government is determined to negotiate a BBF, which would ultimately dissolve the Republic; carve up the island in two ethnic states and introduce an apartheid system of segregation and discrimination on grounds of race and religion! Meanwhile, the general public are kept in total darkness about this mythical BBF that promises panacea! Yet, no government or the UN and neither the EU have explained what this mythical solution entails for Cyprus!

Never in the history of Cyprus has a partition of its kind has ever been negotiated to accommodate foreign geopolitical interests! With the help of the newly appointed UN special envoy Maria Angela Holguin, the wheels are now in motion to come up with a special political brew to trigger the negotiations for a BBF.

Muzzling the Press

President Chrystodoulides seems very anxious to negotiate and has in fact embarked on gagging any opposition to his plans but especially the press. Action is being taken to stop any kind of criticism of negotiating the Cyprus issue but only as he sees fit; action that is reminiscent of despotism! As it happens, a president in Cyprus has more powers than the US president and is accountable to none; not the parliament nor the judiciary — a president becomes divine!

After twelve months in office, policy developments for sure reveal that the Chrystodoulides government behaves in an autocratic manner that Big Brother knows best!

The Audit

Since his appointment in 2014, Mr Michaelides (AG) —the renegade maverick of the Republic—and his Audit Office, have become one of the most respected institutions in the country that enjoy the overwhelming praise and support of the population; a rare quality for Cyprus indeed! Subsequently, the Audit Office of the Republic with over 400 dedicated professionals has become a prickly thorn the present government —in line with its predecessor—wishes to prune!

Not a day goes by when the Audit Office does not expose high-profile corruption cases; the squandering of millions; bribes and devious behaviour by officials in power, institutions and authorities that abuse the system. All cases under scrutiny are passed on to the police or the Judiciary for further determination and prosecution. Such unprecedented behaviour and transparency by a Cyprus institution—which has become a nemesis to the status quo—are the reasons some would like to remove Mr Michaelides (AG) from office, whose only wrongdoing is to perform his job with dignity and protect the interests of the Republic!

Fortunately for the Auditor General, he is not accountable to the whims of a temporary president or a fleeting government but to the European Commission through the European Court of Auditors and he cannot be fired under the Cyprus constitution.

The next twelve-months will be critical for EU-Cyprus but most important of all if the Republic is to survive the onslaught of foreign interests and Europhile forces from within; forces that have decided to partition the island for a Bi-Zonal, Bi-communal Federation and become loyal “Good Europeans!”

Andreas C Chrysafis

Author/Artist/Writer

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