The dual role of Glafcos Clerides

THE other person missing from yesterday’s visit to the great snowy outdoors was former President Glafcos Clerides, who is accompanying the Greek Cypriot delegation to Burgenstock.

According to sources, Clerides has a dual role in Switzerland. First he is probably the best reference point on the Cyprus issue and is needed for the nitty gritty of the negotiations in a behind-the-scenes capacity. The other reason to bring him along is that his repertoire of jokes is likely to lighten up the ‘dinner diplomacy’ taking place in Burgenstock.

One Greek Cypriot official was asked by a Turkish Cypriot journalist about Clerides’ jokes. He wrote out faithfully three Clerides jokes for the journalist late on Thursday night. The jokes cannot be printed in a family newspaper.

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.