Clerides backs down over leak letter

Staff Reporters

TWO political party leaders were yesterday deliberating whether to accompany President Glafcos Clerides to Geneva for tomorrow’s resumption of the UN-led proximity talks on the Cyprus problem.

In that letter, Clerides said that National Council members must have been responsible for a leaking a document outlining UN special envoy Alvaro de Soto’s suggestions on a Cyprus solution to the press. The letter also said that Clerides would think seriously before passing on such sensitive information in the future.

While all the party leaders had been all set to accompany Clerides after this had been agreed at the National Council meeting earlier this week, the letter caused outrage, with all the party leaders except ruling Disy’s Nicos Anastassiades saying that they would seriously consider not accompanying the president.

Kisos and the United Democrats changed their stance yesterday following a second statement by Clerides, in which he stressed that he had not targeted party leaders in his letter and had not meant to offend them. The president also gave assurances that he did not intend to keep the National Council in the dark.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.