‘Respect due to President, defender of press freedom’

WE SHOULD all be grateful to President Tassos Papadopoulos for his contribution to freedom of the press in Cyprus, his son and DIKO deputy Nicolas Papadopoulos said yesterday, weighing in to the debate about the President’s scathing remarks about journalists.

Commenting on reports that an ‘inner circle’ within the National Guard was behind the resignation of the Defence Minister, Tassos Papadopoulos said earlier this week that he had “nothing but scorn for the four or five political analysts who take it upon themselves to invent conspiracies”.

His comments sparked a furious reaction from the Journalists’ Union.

Responding to criticism from DISY leader Nicos Anastassiades, Nicolas Papadopoulos said yesterday: “Respect is owed to President Papadopoulos, who fought so that we could have freedom of speech, opinion and freedom of press.”

He was speaking in a bitter tit-for-tat exchange with Anastassiades, whom he had earlier condemned for his criticism of the President.

Nicolas Papadopoulos had also repeated old criticism of Anastassiades for reporting the government to the EU regarding practices in the run-up to the failed 2004 referendum on the Annan plan.

Anastassiades responded yesterday: “I did not condemn my country anywhere, I condemned the unacceptable actions of the specific government,” before adding: “I do not wish to comment on things said by a youngster.” Nicolas Papadopoulos was born in 1973.

The DIKO deputy replied the comments were a “sad example of the derisory and arrogant manner in which Mr Anastassiades behaves.”

He added that the Cypriot public had elected him to Parliament to give him the right to judge, including the actions of Anastassiades.

“I respect his age in the same way that he should respect mine,” he said.

Papadopoulos added the DISY president should be extra careful when speaking of the freedom of press, given his past complaints to the European Parliament.

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.