By a Staff Reporter
WITH just four days to go the elections, political parties yesterday continued trading blows, the keyword being “credibility”.
The tempo was somewhat slowed down, as Monday’s row over the role of the National Council and leaks started to blow over. But reports that UN Secretary-general Annan might be visiting the island later this month re-shifted emphasis on the Cyprus problem.
Opposition AKEL highlighted the discrepancies in the government’s policy, suggesting the administration was in disarray. Quoting Government Spokesman Michalis Papapetrou, ruling DISY boss Nicos Anastassiades and Foreign Minister Yiannakis Cassoulides, the paper said they each had a different take on whether important developments were on the cards.
For his part, senior AKEL officer Andreas Christou focused on President Glafcos Clerides, remarking that he was playing “election campaign games”. He was referring to recent comments by Clerides, who seemed to be suggesting he had some inside information on the negotiations on Cyprus but could not make these public.
“Is this an election gimmick or what?” said Christou. “Just like in 1993 and 1998, DISY is trying to convince people that the Cyprus problem is at a crossroads.” To back his argument, Christou quoted Turkish leader Tayyip Erdogan, who in an interview said that in coming months Turkey’s major foreign policy concern would be the Iraq crisis, not Cyprus.
He added that the opposition was both able and willing to handle developments in the Cyprus issue if these came up.
This last comment was derided by the government spokesman, who remarked that “suddenly, the rejectionist camp have been transformed into the champions of rapprochement and a settlement.”
Meanwhile Markides directly questioned the credibility of Tassos Papadopoulos’ candidacy. He said that Papadopoulos’ law firm was being investigated abroad for possible implication in breaking the UN embargo on the Milosevic regime.
“If we get a president like that, the people will inherit his problems. It should be the other way round,” said Markides.
As Attorney-general, Markides headed local investigations into whether Papadopoulos was linked to breaking the embargo imposed on Yugoslavia.
“There is a sense among foreign countries, particularly the sole global superpower, that Papadopoulos was involved in this. Whether it’s true or not, I don’t know. What matters is that the United States thinks that. So is this the kind of president we want? Our people would be unnecessarily saddled with additional problems.”
Markides also re-issued a challenge to Papadopoulos for a face-to-face live televised debate. “So far he has avoided this.”
The three main candidates — Clerides, Papadopoulos and Markides — have yet to appear together in a debate.
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.
