AKEL Tsielepis: When agreed issues are opened, then problems loose are created
If political equality is not accepted, then the Cyprus problem cannot be resolved, the member of the Political Bureau and Head of the Cyprus Problem Office of the C.C. of AKEL Toumazos Tsielepis pointed out.
Speaking to the morning edition of ‘Astra’ radio station, T.Tsielepis stressed that the continuation of the talks from the point where they had remained at Crans Montana should be a shield of protection. He subsequently noted that when agreed issues are opened, then problems are created. Furthermore, he called on the President of the Republic to realize that determination is needed so that the Greek Cypriot side does not open agreed issues because, as he said, the other side can do the same. It is up to us, he underlined, whether the terms of the mandate will change.
At the same time, Toumazos Tsielepis explained that political equality has to do with the weight of each community’s participation in decision-making. He added that political equality does not mean absolute numerical equality in all institutions and that all decisions are taken unanimously. The AKEL Political Bureau member also explained that decentralized federation has to do with the competences of the central government, stressing that it must be clarified precisely which federal competences should be decentralized. He added, however, that federal competences were already agreed. At the same time, he welcomed the statement of DISY President Averof Neophytou (on political equality), saying that the position expressed is better late than never.
In addition, Toumazos Tsielepis said that sovereign equality is the equality of two sovereign states, saying that the “weapon” in order that such a thing won’t be implemented, is the policy for political equality. He added that the issue of sovereignty had plagued the negotiating table for decades, saying that under the Christofias administration it took approximately two years to arrive at a conclusion on this issue. He noted that now, if an agreed-upon issue is reopened, it will take many decades to come to a conclusion.