‘Our credibility and image have been damaged’

THE DEPUTY leader of coalition partner DIKO yesterday described the dressing down of party insubordinates at an extraordinary party meeting on Monday as “hard and unfair”.

Georghios Colocassides was one of the eight members of the Executive Bureau which voted against party leader Marios Garoyian’s strategy proposal for managing the party’s outlook, shattered by internal bickering and conflicting opinions over the government coalition.

Garoyian effectively cracked the whip on Monday, warning party cadres point-blank that insubordinate behaviour would no longer be tolerated. The DIKO boss referred to the irresponsible behaviour of certain party members without naming them, saying: “How do you expect the media to react when daily we offer them a reality show?” He said he would no longer accept members putting personal ambition and interest before the party.

The party leader had called the session of the Executive Bureau after simmering tensions within the party boiled over, precipitated by an escalating personal attack against the President by DIKO deputy Nicholas Papadopoulos.

“(Garoyian’s) position was particularly hard and unfair,” said Colocassides yesterday. The DIKO deputy leader said he disagreed with the idea that the party was offering up a daily reality show. “That is why I voted against the proposal,” he said.

Party spokesman Fotis Fotiou said the intervention by Garoyian was not an attempt to gag anyone but to stop the escalating climate.

“Mr Garoyian didn’t want this situation to go any further regarding the public image of DIKO, and truth be told, our credibility and image had been damaged,” he said.

Garoyian has a responsibility to preserve the unity and image of the party, added the spokesman.

“The warning was clear for all. Finally, we must all promote the decisions of the collective organs of the party,” said Fotiou.

Garoyian is due to meet with President Demetris Christofias in the next few days to discuss the coalition partnership.

“We are prepared to support the president. We don’t provide a blank cheque. We help the president by also expressing our disagreements, and will continue doing so in a correct way,” said Fotiou.

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.