THE CHAIRMAN of the House Institutions Committee was yesterday criticised by his fellow committee members for revealing part of what had been said behind closed doors about the leaked UN documents.
The committee had been at loggerheads over whether the documents – which were published in a book called Simademeni Trapoula (Marked Cards) – should be discussed at parliament. It was eventually agreed that they would be examined in two separate meetings and behind closed doors.
But following yesterday’s session, Committee Chairman, EVROKO’s Rikkos Erotokritou, revealed that the UN Secretary-General’s special advisor on Cyprus, Alexander Downer – according to the writers of the book – had attempted to influence a judge at the European Court of Human Rights to rule against Greek Cypriots who were filing claims for their properties lost after the Turkish invasion.
“But thankfully this didn’t work, as the Orams case has proved,” he said, referring to the ECHR ruling that called on Britons David and Linda Orams to demolish a property they had built on land belonging to Greek Cypriot refugee Meletios Apostolides in occupied Lapithos.
Erotokritou also claimed Downer had advised the UN Secretary-General’s former Special Representative in Cyprus, Taye-Brook Zerihoun, and former UN Undersecretary-General Lynn Pascoe to stop referring to the Orams case, “so as not to raise hope in Greek Cypriots that just because of the Orams case, they will get their properties back”.
But Erotokritou’s move was condemned by DISY’s Andreas Themistocleous, as well as AKEL’s Yiannakis Thoma, who both agreed Downer’s actions were unacceptable, yet felt it would do Cyprus more harm than good to start public conflicts on the matter.
“AKEL wants to clarify that when it is agreed in Parliament that a meeting will be closed, for self-explanatory reasons, we feel this should be respected,” said Thoma. “The Downer matter is delicate, which was why it was decided to be closed.”
He said Downer had undoubtedly carried out some “unacceptable actions”, but publicly discussing them was not in the best interests of the Cypriot people.
“The way in which we plan to react should be examined behind closed doors, for the good of the Cypriot people,” said Thoma.
Themistocleous agreed, saying parliamentary regulations should be followed and respected.
However, he added that DISY would say what it had to say on the matter once all the documents have been submitted next week and answers have been given to the questions posed yesterday.
“The majority of the Committee decided on a closed session, which should be respected by all sides, even if some are in a rush – prematurely and inopportunely – to reach their own conclusions,” said Themistocleous. “What the Chairman decided to reveal concerns him.”
