WHAT AN emotional rollercoaster ride we have been on in the last couple of weeks. Eleven days ago the plantation hit new depths of collective depression, as we mourned DISY’s decision to leave the National Council but by last Tuesday we were seized by ecstatic joy thanks to our Ethnarch’s diplomatic triumph in Paris.
“We’ll always have Paris,” Humphrey Bogart said to Ingrid Bergman as they parted in the moving finale of Casablanca and I half-expected our Ethnarch to utter Bogie’s memorable line on his return to the plantation after his historic meeting with Kofi Annan at the Hotel Bristol.
During the meeting he used all his charm to win over Annan and secure his support for putting off a settlement indefinitely, while pretending he was working for one. Or so we have been made to believe by his well-oiled propaganda machine.
As hacks accompanying the Ethnarch collectively reported, the atmosphere of the meeting was very positive indeed. Twice Annan joked with Tassos at the joint news conference (at the beginning and at the end). Tassos was greeted at the entrance of the Hotel Bristol by Annan’s special envoy to Cyprus, Michael Moller, who was smiling.
Further proof of the excellent co-operation between the UN and the government was the fact that they had prepared the joint communiqu? together, before the meeting. And its content was not leaked to the press in advance by our government, which has often been accused of violating news black-outs. The fact that a joint communiqu? was issued – something that does not happen often, we were informed by hacks – indicated the good level of co-operation, of the two sides.
The positives did not end there according to the hacks reporting from Paris. The UN hired a big hall for a joint news conference and (would you believe it?) behind the two podiums were the UN and Cyprus flags! What flag did they think the UN would put up? Turkey’s or Britain’s? Not only this, Annan addressed Tassos as “President of the Republic” as if this was another great victory for our side.
ALL THESE nonsensical, positive signs were pointed out to the hacks accompanying the Ethnarch at a briefing by the emeritus professor of political propaganda and government spokesman Giorgos Lillikas, assisted by the head of the Ethnarch’s diplomatic office and Secret Service chief, Tasos Tzionis.
It was a joy to see Lillikas’ mood swing from depression to elation in the space of a few days thanks to Paris. Most people need strong medication to fight depression, but all Giorgos needs is some dubiously positive political developments.
And how fitting that Tzionis, who made a habit of leaking information to selected hacks while UN-sponsored peace negotiations were in progress and news black-outs were in place, makes a song and dance because he managed to keep his mouth shut about a decidedly inconsequential communiqu?.
As for the flag and the way Annan addressed the Ethnarch, what can you say? He was seeing him as a head of state and treated him in the way protocol dictated for such meetings. Was it really an indication of the good atmosphere? If there was a bad climate would he address him as “Re Tasso” and put a flag of the pseudo-state behind his podium?
And in case Lillikas was not aware of it, Moller was smiling when he greeted Tassos because this is how polite, civilised people act when they are welcoming a guest. But we cannot blame him for thinking that the grumpy, miserable look with which most palazzo guests are usually greeted is the norm.
BUT WAS the meeting characterised by sweetness and light or was there suspicion and distrust lurking below the surface? Why was a joint communiqu? issued, if, as Lillikas informed hacks, it is not standard practice to do so? According to UN sources in Nicosia, the UN had insisted on a joint communiqu?, the wording of which was agreed before Tassos had arrived in Paris, because they wanted to prevent our government from giving its own version of what had been discussed in the meeting.
The UN did not trust Tassos and his entourage of spin doctors to give an accurate account of what was discussed and agreed at the meeting. This was also the reason, according to UN sources, that Annan took the unprecedented step of giving a joint press conference with the Ethnarch. It was felt that by doing so Annan would not allow Tassos to say whatever suited him about what they talked about at the meeting.
That was how positive the climate was at the meeting.
BUT DESPITE the pre-agreed, joint communiqu?, joint press conference, the jokes by Annan and Moller’s smiles, Tassos had no trouble stitching up the UN big-time. All the safeguards taken by UN to prevent the exploitation of the meeting for propaganda purposes failed spectacularly. Just a couple of hours after the meeting the Ethnarch’s propaganda bosses were spinning myths that exposed UN officials as rank amateurs in the art of news management.
Our government wasted no time informing us that technical committees would be discussing “de-manning of guard-posts, de-militarisation, de-mining and the opening of Famagusta. This was what the joint communiqu? said, it was pointed out. There was such a mention, but it was taken out of context.
What the communiqu? said was that Annan and Tassos agreed that “it would be beneficial for all parties concerned and that it would greatly improve the atmosphere for future talks if progress could be achieved on further de-manning of troops and on the de-militarisation of the island, the complete de-mining of Cyprus and the issue of Famagusta.”
By agreeing to include this piece of wishful thinking in the communiqu?, the na?ve UN officials had offered our guys a goldmine of propaganda fodder.
ON WEDNESDAY everyone reported that the above issues would be discussed by the technical committees. Phileleftheros’ lead story on Thursday, written by Kostas Venizelos, who gets his briefing directly from Tzionis, even discovered other issues for discussion that were not mentioned in the communiqu?.
The hack claimed that the technical committees would not only be discussing the above issues, but also issues relating to the substance of the Cyprob, such as property, the unified economy and the settlers. Where did he find out about this?
The Turks certainly did not agree to discuss de-militarisation, de-manning or Famagusta, let alone the settlers, property and the economy. The joint communiqu? merely made a theoretical point, that progress on these issues would be beneficial and improve the climate for talks. The Turks had not even been asked if they would agree to talk about such issues, but our government was telling us that this was what the technical committees would be discussing, knowing full well that it was not going to happen.
The technical committees, both sides had agreed, would discuss other issues of substance, including water resource management, crime prevention, waste management, money laundering, traffic congestion, health and humanitarian issues.
WHEN a Turkish Cypriot politician pointed out that the Turks had never agreed to discuss de-militarisation, de-manning or Famagusta, professor Lillikas immediately went on the offensive, accusing the Turks of reneging on what they had agreed. But had they agreed to discuss anything other than waste management, money laundering etc? No, but who cares?
Not the commies at AKEL, who held a press conference to charge the Turks of not wanting to negotiate for a settlement. As for the CyBC Foreign Correspondent George Iacovou, he boasted that as a result of our Paris triumph, Gul and Erdogan had “lost their power of speech”. Either that or they feel so unthreatened by our initiative that they have not even bothered to comment on it.
There was another worrying development that nobody seemed to notice. The European Commission, which immediately welcomed the Turks’ Act
ion Plan proposal a few weeks ago, provoking strong representations by our government, until yesterday had said nothing about our brave initiative for the discussion of waste management. Had Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn, like Gul and Erdogan, “lost his power of speech”? Is there an epidemic?
In fact, if I were a member of the government alliance I would be extremely worried because apart from Greece, which routinely supports everything our Ethnarch does and says, the only other government to support our initiative was Britain’s. And as we know, anything that is supported by our bad demons cannot be good for us.
OUR ESTABLISHMENT has always expressed its admiration for the crude way in which the Papa-Dop government distorts and twists the facts. Yet despite this complete lack of subtlety, it manages to fool a hell of lot of people. Lillikas, for instance, uses the same subtle technique of the famed Iraqi Information Minister, Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf – inventing his own reality.
Al-Sahaf was boasting that Iraqi troops had crushed the enemy while US tanks were entering Baghdad. “There are no American infidels in Baghdad. Never.” At least hacks covering the Iraq war had good laugh whenever MSAS spoke. The tragedy of our plantation is that when Lillikas speaks none of the hacks are laughing. In fact they all take him seriously.
With such gullible, uncritical hacks is it any wonder that that our government’s propaganda becomes more audacious and outrageous all the time? Tassos and his entourage, understandably, have come to believe that they can tell us anything and we will buy it and say “thank-you, please can we have some more”.
Not a single hack accompanying the Ethnarch to Paris questioned anything they were told at their briefing by the propaganda officers.
Meanwhile, three TV hacks (CyBC, Sigma and Antenna) were briefed directly by the Ethnarch himself in Paris, because television news influences a lot more people than the newspapers and the hacks could not be left to say whatever they wanted. They had to report what the Ethnarch told them to say.
THE PARIS trip is the biggest and most ambitious communications game set up by our government so far. They agreed for technical committees to discuss waste and water management and they have got hacks to report that discussions about the return of Famagusta, the property issue and de-militarisation of the island are about to begin!
The Turks never agreed to discuss the big issues and we are accusing them of reneging on their agreement. The technical committees that will pave the way to a settlement have not even been formed and we have already begun quarrelling with the Turks about what they will discuss. And any Greek Cypriot politician who sees the government’s communications game for what it is and says so is automatically accused of not wanting a settlement and of siding with foreigners in doubting our side’s sincerity.
Who is the government trying to fool with this well-executed publicity stunt? Not the UN, which knows exactly what has been agreed with the Turks. Not the international community, which knows all about communications tricks and does not rely on the Cypriot media or Lillikas for its information on the Cyprob; not the EU which has not said a single positive word about our alleged initiative.
By a process of elimination, we can safely deduce that the only people the government really wants to take for a ride are us Greek Cypriots. This is why the government takes so much care instructing journalists what they will say and how they will report the news. As long as the Greek Cypriot voters are under the impression that our Ethnarch is doing his best to secure a solution and the only obstacle is the evil Turk, our government is happy. The irony is that it has gone to all this trouble to fool Greek Cypriots, the majority of whom do not really want a settlement. Has our Ethnarch’s communications gurus not yet realised that the leader’s high public approval rating is because people trust him never to sign a settlement?
HOUSE LEGAL and Foreign Affairs committees have met twice in the last couple of weeks to discuss our plantation’s new constitution. Amendment legislation would be passed giving supremacy of the EU acquis communautaire over the constitution.
Fundamentally important issues needed to be discussed, but deputies have taken up the time of both meetings to discuss a monumental triviality – a provision by which Cypriot citizens can be extradited to other EU member-states and third countries for trial. They have been debating whether the provision would be retroactive and how far back it would apply.
Most believe that it should apply to crimes committed after May 1, 2004, the EU accession date. But one deputy objected to this because it would violate the rights of criminals. It would be unfair, he argued, to make the extradition law retroactive, because someone may have committed a crime in the past knowing that he could not be extradited to a foreign country for trial. Only on our plantation could legislators show such sensitivity to the rights of criminals.
Rumours are that all this fuss about extradition is aimed at protecting one man – Lykourgos Kyprianou who was convicted, in absentia, by a US court for fraud, insider dealing and a series of other serious offences and could face an extradition to the US if the law is made retroactive. After all, if Lykourgos knew he could have been extradited he would never have committed all those shares scams in the US, as our deputies correctly pointed out.
IF ANYONE is feeling a bit down about the national problem and thinking that their properties in the north have been lost for good as we move closer to partition they should look on the bright side. We may have lost our properties in the north but worry not because “we’ll always have Paris”.
