PRESIDENT Nicos Anastasiades urged party leaders and others to refrain from engaging in scaremongering and populism as regards the visa waiver deal between the EU and Turkey.
“Because I’m hearing a lot these days that the visa waiver would supposedly allow millions of Turks to come to Cyprus, I want to note that 79 million Turkish nationals could have visited Cyprus illegally through illegal entry points, either ports or airports,” Anastasiades said of the Turkish-occupied north of the island.
Earlier this week, the Turkish cabinet approved waiving visas for visitors from all 28 EU member states once Europe relaxes its own visa requirements for Turks.
Although the visa waiver will apply to Greek Cypriots, Turkish officials said it did not amount to recognition of the Republic.
“Consequently, those scaremongering should know that no Turkish national entering the occupied areas illegally would be accepted in the Republic of Cyprus as part of the visa waiver.”
DIKO chairman Nicolas Papadopoulos was especially critical of the government over the matter, forcing Foreign Minister Ioannis Kasoulides to engage him in a rare public exchange of barbs.
Papadopoulos claimed the deal with the EU raised the danger of 80 million Turkish nationals moving freely in Cyprus “while we ourselves cannot move freely in our own country.”
Accusing the government of a weak foreign policy for not objecting to the European Commission’s document, Papadopoulos zeroed in on the foreign minister, whom he accused of having a history of ‘exculpating’ Turkey’s policy on Cyprus.
The minister said the DIKO chief had blown matters out of proportion, exploiting the EU visa waiver for Turkey and deliberately conflating this with the issue of settlers in Cyprus.
In reality, these are two separate issues, Kasoulides said, suggesting that Papadopoulos’ concerns were merely a vote-grabbing ploy – directed particularly at Greek Cypriot refugees – in the midst of an election campaign.
At any rate, it was too early to fret about the impact of the visa waiver on the Republic of Cyprus.
The ‘road map’ for lifting the visa requirement for Turkish nationals was contingent on Ankara meeting 72 benchmarks, or criteria, Kasoulides noted.
Anastasiades declined to comment on the spat.
He said the government made a conscious effort not to get involved in election rows but that would not stop it from respond to unfounded criticism from parties.
“What parties must realise is that we don’t have presidential elections so that they can make promises. Consequently they should be objective in the critic they exercise.”
