Omirou: fighting over north properties is bad for our image

EDEK PARTY leader Yiannakis Omirou called for politicians to refrain from making personal attacks on other deputies after the angry debate on the issue of properties in the north at the House of Representatives on Thursday.

The row was sparked by comments made by DISY President Nicos Anastassiades, as he implied that the government had allowed the development of all Greek Cypriot properties in the north through their inaction.

The opposition party leader also made snide remarks against DIKO Deputy Zacharias Koulias regarding the newspapers reports accusing Koulias of purchasing and developing land that forms part of a defensive perimeter near the Green Line around Larnaca.

Omirou said yesterday that this situation was not good for Cyprus’ political image.

“Yesterday [Thursday] painted Cyprus in a bad way; these sort of comments and arguments on a personal level have to be avoided at all costs as they undermine the political standard on the island,” he said.

DIKO leader Marios Karoyian accused Anastassiades and DISY of giving up hope too easily and called for a united front.

“Comments have been made that show reports of turbulence in the internal administration or one could even see a lack of tranquillity. Of course there are always dangers and risks involved in our struggle, but we cannot lose our faith so easily, this causes tension within our government,” he said. “It seems that with the first difficulties they encounter they try to undermine our fight.”

During the debate, AKEL Deputy Aristofanis Georgiou maintained that the situation in the occupied areas was quickly becoming out of hand while he also accused British MPs of buying land in the north.

According to Georgiou, since November 14, 2006, the occupied areas received 7,512 applications from foreigners for the right to buy property, with 2,560 of them being approved. Georgiou added that there are still 4,590 applications pending while 230 have been withdrawn.
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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.