The belief that there are many people from the progressive left who are not integrated and find expression through the outline of their positions, expressed Presidential candidate Achilleas Demetriades, in response to questions about the result of the vote in the Central Committee of AKEL. At the same time, he turned his fire on AKEL's chosen candidate Andreas Mavroyiannis, criticising him for the position he is currently in on the Cyprus issue, but also raising questions about double privileges he enjoys.
Answering questions from journalists at a press conference on Monday, on the occasion of Europe Day, Demetriades assured that he will continue as a truly independent candidate until the end.
"We will definitely be together until February 2023. I made that clear from the beginning. My candidacy does not depend on any party support. That is exactly why it is independent. So together we will fight the battle for a progressive change with transparency, within civil society which is hungry for change, for getting rid of the Anastasiades government," he said.
Asked how he feels after the decision of AKEL's Central Committee, he replied that the parties' procedures are fully respected.
At the same time, he expressed the view that there is a huge number of people who are hungry for change.
At the same time, he expressed the view that there is a huge number of people who are hungry for change. He said the biggest party is the abstention with 30% of people not going to vote and expressed the belief that it can draw from there. He also said that 15% of those who voted did not express their views in parliament because the party they supported did not get the measure to get into parliament. He explained that 45% of citizens do not have an expression of what is happening, and noted that he relies on these people as part of civil society.
At the same time, he said that there are many people inside and outside the parties who have seen the outline of his positions and believe that these positions can bring change, getting rid, he said, of the Anastasiades administration.
Asked whether he had any communication with any AKEL official who disagreed with Mavroyiannis' choice, Demetriades replied in the negative and said he learned what was going on from the media. Asked if he had any contact with the Secretary General of AKEL after the result, he replied that he had none at all.
Asked whether he believes he will receive support from parties that have not yet taken a position on the presidential election, Demetriades said that he has made contacts with almost all parties, has given the outline of his positions and is prepared to discuss improvements or even changes. He added that dialogue with any party or organised force is open.
Asked whether he thinks he will draw from the voters of the left, he said that these votes are not only within AKEL, which did its procedures and are respected. He said there are many people on the progressive left who are not integrated and find expression through the outline of their positions.
"The important thing for me is change. Do we want things to change? We want to get rid of the 'corrupt Anastasiades administration' and their collaborators. So to put it more simply, we want to get rid of 'DDA and CIA', to use an abbreviation?" he said. He added that if we want this, the faces must change, "we cannot recycle them, we cannot re-capture people who were in the system, in key posts, and say that they have now changed."
He also said that the people he has contacted have embraced this effort because, he said, they are fed up and can no longer stand what they see around them, corruption, lack of honest government and "all the evils that surround us that make my candidacy important because it gives voice to the voiceless, it gives right to those whose rights are being trampled on because the party system has crushed them." The people, civil society, he said, will now be able to feel that their individual vote has a way to be expressed.
Asked, moreover, whether he believes he can draw votes from the right and the broader liberal ideology as well, he said he believes he can draw from everywhere and the criterion for who can follow him or who he can work with is not a theoretical position of his name, but the recorded positions in his outline.
Fire at Mavroyiannis
In response to another question, Demetriades said that his desire, as shown through his program, is to abolish unreasonable privileges
He said that he sees Mavroyiannis getting two salaries as a reward for what he did as a negotiator, based on his information, he said, and questioned whether that is indeed the case. That is, if he received a salary as ambassador and at the same time had a second contract from the Greek community for the procedures as a negotiator.
"For me, it is not an honest state for someone to have unreasonable privileges when we see accuracy hitting our fellow citizens and they can't get by," he said.
At the same time, he noted that for him, multiple pensioners are a phenomenon that should be eliminated.
At the same time, he noted that for him, multiple pensioners are a phenomenon that should be eliminated. "I do not accept either double pensioners or double pensioners," he said."
"And this kind of candidacy in my understanding goes against any notion of an honest state. An honest state does not accept unreasonable privileges, an honest state wants equality," he said.
Asked whether he holds Mavroyiannis responsible for the Cyprus impasse, he said that a professional negotiator has a conflict of interest in solving a problem that gives him a reason to exist.
"All these years of negotiations, all these years we left Crans Montana in 2017 with the solution in sight and today we are on the verge of partition. The DDA & Co. to use the term, includes Mr. Mavroyiannis and in fact as far as the Cyprus problem is concerned he is one of the triumvirate of President, Foreign Minister and negotiator. If these three are not responsible for the mess the Cyprus problem is in, I wonder who will be responsible."
He also said that we should not forget about Varosha which he feels so strongly about, Erdogan's statements and actions about Varosha and its opening in July 2021. As he said, foreign policy for internal consumption had both perpetrators and accomplices. As he said, the right accomplices leave if they have a disagreement, otherwise they are presumed to agree.
"And this agreement, if the investigations are done, may also be because it was also a livelihood," he said.
Proposal to create a Deputy Ministry of European Affairs
In his Europe Day conference, Demetriades proposed the creation of a Deputy Ministry of European Affairs for effective participation of Cyprus at every level of decision-making in the EU. He also advocated engaging with European interests to resolve the Cyprus problem, using "two keys", which he said are energy and the positive EU-Turkey agenda.
Demetriades said that Cyprus needs a different European course to put an end to the "empty chair" policy. With his proposal, he noted that it aims at better supervision and implementation of European directives, better planning for the second Cyprus Presidency of the EU Council in 2026 and maximising the benefits of Cyprus' participation in the EU in all areas.
Achilleas Demetriades referred to the importance of the establishment of the EU as a force for peace and reconciliation and said that Cyprus today, as a member of the EU, is in a better position to face modern challenges: pandemic, climate crisis, economic growth, etc.Specifically on the Recovery and Resilience Fund, he said it is an opportunity for Cyprus to get out of the rut and plan based on sustainable development.
Demetriades criticised the 10-year Anastasiades administration for opportunistic policies and empty words, while in practice, he said, it had other priorities, vilifying Cyprus with "golden passports".
He argued that Cyprus needs to clean up corruption, reduce inequalities and make room for healthy growth and jobs for young people.
Referring to the Cyprus problem, Demetriades proposed a European Peace Plan for Cyprus to regain its credibility and align with European interests, demanding, not with words but with deeds, clear understandings with the UN and the EU.
Referring to the Cyprus problem, Demetriades proposed a European Peace Plan for Cyprus to regain its credibility and align with European interests, demanding, not with words but with deeds, clear understandings with the UN and the EU.
"To use the two keys we have in our hands, the Energy card and the Euro-Turkish relationship card to reopen the door to resolution and development and to build Cyprus for Cypriots," he said.
In conclusion, Achilleas Demetriades said that as an independent candidate he will work to join forces in a new social coalition that will bring progressive change and rid the country of the Anastasiades administration.
Source: CNA
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