THE FOREIGN Ministry has berated Politis newspaper for its coverage of a scandal involving photographs of a Cypriot ambassador that appeared on a gay website.
The article spoke of an ambassador working in a Central European country, whose half-naked photo appears on the website with what seems to be a request for a sexual partner.
The daily reported that the photos were believed to have been uploaded by a third party, with the aim of ‘outing’ the ambassador.
According to yesterday’s Politis, the Foreign Ministry has appointed another official to his position and the ambassador is set to return to Nicosia on March 1.
But in a statement published by the paper, the Foreign Ministry called on journalists to treat diplomats with more respect.
“You must understand that the vast majority of our diplomats are carrying out their duties with integrity, putting in all their efforts, with the sole aim of pursuing our rights internationally, working overtime without ever asking for the least financial compensation for their overtime.
“So we think it is unacceptable for anyone to try to put in total disrepute the diplomatic service of our half-occupied homeland, the main problem of which is its survival.
“We are not denying that the diplomats of our country should have an exemplary attitude when carrying out their duties, seeing that they are situated on the front line of projection of the values and beliefs of our country.
“But this also applies to those attempting to criticise and condemn our work. We have never rejected criticism and control when this is done in good faith.”
Journalists, the statement said, should show more respect for the department’s work and recognise “our praise-worthy efforts and achievements, which due to the nature of our work, cannot be advertised.”
Politis yesterday replied that it had strong evidence backing its story.
“From the moment that there are facts (in the specific instance, the publication of photographs), accusations are being made, investigations are being carried out, there are crossed wires, then we cannot hide them.
“As far as the aforementioned announcement is concerned, we find the criticism on our publication unfair.
“While we have possessed all the evidence for more than three weeks, we only uncovered a small part of them, with special care and without referring to the implication of other persons, whose role is being investigated in the specific case.
“Of course we honour diplomats and the work they carry out, but that cannot interfere with the execution of our journalistic operation. Or is it that diplomats should not be controlled?” the paper wondered.
