by Yiannos Afrodisis, Director of the Office of the House President
As DISY President Annita Demetriou rightly noted after yesterday’s National Council meeting, the national interest must come before party concerns or any narrower agendas. I will set aside the party dimension and focus on the latter.
In response to recent media reports, individuals from both communities who were directly involved in earlier efforts to resolve the Cyprus problem have publicly expressed objections or reservations about the current attempt to restart talks. Their concerns focus mainly on questions of methodology and on symbolic approaches used in the past. In my view, this stance does not contribute constructively to the ongoing process, although it could. Of course, such views should be expressed – meaningful dialogue depends on it. But we must not lose sight of the fact that time moves on, beyond human control, and in doing so creates new realities.
Nine years have passed since the last serious attempt, which ended without result at Crans-Montana. Since then, societal priorities have shifted, geopolitical developments have reshaped relations between states, and leadership has changed. Treating the outcomes of past Cyprus talks as if they were gospel or text from the Koran ignores these changes and distorts the reality of what was actually achieved in terms of convergence. Moreover, if those directly involved in earlier efforts had truly wanted to lock in any convergence or partial agreement, they could have set aside the well-known principle that ‘nothing is agreed until everything is agreed’. They chose not to do so, for their own reasons. They cannot now retrospectively overturn that approach.
The current effort to find a solution, under the United Nations, with Nikos Christodoulides and Tufan Erhürman, is not a forum for defending past actions or justifying previous positions, whether in votes, texts or statements. Those matters can be assessed and debated elsewhere – in historical analysis or academic work. What matters now is that everyone looks ahead and focuses on the future, free from personal attachments, fixed positions or ambitions.
