Green party wants binding House decision on Cyprus problem

Following DIKO, the Green party on Thursday expressed the view that parliament should get involved in the Cyprus problem talks by issuing a binding decision.

Party chairman Giorgos Perdikis said that he had asked the House president for the legislature to issue a decision binding the president that he would not accept a reunification deal that included foreign guarantees and the presence of foreign troops.

“We will ask from all parliamentary parties to make a binding statement on the matter,” he said.

Perdikis added that the time had come for parliament to determine the Cypriot people’s stance on key Cyprus problem matters.

Last week, DIKO chairman Nicolas Papadopoulos suggested that constitutional matters relating to the reunification of the island must go through parliament because he did not trust the president.

“There is no longer confidence in the president as regards the information given to parties and the people,” Papadopoulos said.

He repeated accusations that President Nicos Anastasiades was engaging in secret diplomacy and kept parties and the people in the dark over his talks with Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci.

Papadopoulos added that he will launch an initiative to move discussion to parliament where there will be full transparency.

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.