DIKO AND House president Spyros Kyprianou yesterday returned to Cyprus after almost five weeks overseas for corrective surgery following an open-heart operation, and immediately launched into an attack on the government’s Cyprus problem policy.
Kyprianou underwent surgery in London to re-wire his sternum following a coughing-fit after his first operation in the United States.
As soon as he landed at Larnaca airport, Kyprianou suggested the Greek Cypriot side should seriously consider whether it should even show up for the third round of proximity talks with the Turkish Cypriots in May.
Kyprianou said it was too soon to discuss whether he would be accompanying President Glafcos Clerides to New York for the talks, saying it was something that would have to be decided by his party.
"I don’t know if I will go personally or if the party will be represented or whether it should (be)… It is too soon. One of the things we should know, and I thought about this a lot personally, but of course I will not try to influence my colleagues – the party will decide – is whether there is something of essence, something to be done (during the third round), or whether is it just a repeat of the two previous rounds."
Asked whether Diko believed the government should therefore not participate in the third round, Kyprianou replied: "I suggest that at some stage, perhaps a while before the third round and after the elections in Greece, there be serious consideration here in Cyprus to see whether we really want to be realistic (about the situation)… and see along with the Greek government which will come out of the elections, where we are heading."
Kyprianou continued that the land issue was not the only one that required discussion, "There is also history, the invasion, the occupation, the uprooting, ethnic cleansing, what about the settlers?"
He said the National Council should discuss all these issues before deciding whether the government should take part in the proximity talks and that, once discussion there was exhausted, the matter should be taken up with the Greek government.
Kyprianou also said he did not believe any progress in the Cyprus problem had come out of the EU’s decision to make Turkey a candidate country.
"(We got) absolutely nothing. Turkey will not discuss the Cyprus problem in the framework of its EU accession," he said.
The House President said that he had been told by sources in Greece that UN special envoy to Cyprus Alvaro de Soto had been disappointed by the Turkish side’s attitude during his recent visit to Cyprus: "It is up to De Soto to say if he was not disappointed."
He dismissed comments by Britain’s special representative Sir David Hannay on Tuesday saying there was currently a better chance for a solution to the Cyprus problem than there had been for many years.
"Something else I saw in papers that Sir David Hannay said this was the chance we have and we have to grab it… We have to remember that in the last 25 years, every year and sometimes every six months, they tell us this is the last chance."
Kyprianou also said that more attention should be paid to Turkey’s role in the Cyprus problem and that the country’s human rights problem had not disappeared because of its better relations with Greece.
Turning to other matters, he said whether he continued as House President or Diko leader would not depend on his health.
"The criteria will not be health. We have passed the problems, so the situation is like it was before my health problems."
Kyprianou said that at least until decisions on his status were announced at Diko’s general assembly, he would gradually be returning to his duties.
He also thanked all those who had supported him through his "sometimes nightmarish" ordeal.
