– The “angry” Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
– The copy that betrayed the President
– Averof at the market… wearing green
– Andreas, forget about AKEL’s vote
Good morning, everyone. Well, Erdogan did his thing and thought he’d accomplished something. He sold his contempt for the Republic of Cyprus to his own people, and our President sold “the battles he fought in Turkey” to his own people. And everyone was happy…
· Come to think of it, none of the Sultan’s plans worked out. First, he didn’t invite the President of the Republic; he was forced to do so only after the EU reacted. Then he wanted to present him as the “President of Southern Cyprus,” but he had to take down the signs he’d prepared as soon as the EU objected again. They did not want to address him officially; another member of the conference presidium did so instead. All he managed to do was exclude him from the official dinner to which he had invited Erhurman. And so the President departed for Dublin. It’s all just a game…
ΣΧΕΤΙΚΑ ΑΡΘΡΑ
· Now, Fito says he’s going to tell Fidan that negotiations on Turkey’s customs union with the EU can resume if Ankara agrees to restart theon the Cyprus issue from where they left off at Crans-Montana. Meanwhile, the customs union negotiations were suspended because Turkey was not fulfilling its obligations related to Cyprus, not because of the Cyprus issue. It doesn’t matter, though; if something is to come of the talks, so be it. Although I find that unlikely.
· Christodoulides and Erciyaman saved the day at the very last minute this past Monday. And so Ms. Olgin not only didn’t say “goodbye” to us but also arranged a trilateral meeting with the UN Secretary-General. But let’s not kid ourselves. Nothing substantial came of it, and the two checkpoints that were agreed upon will take us months (or perhaps years?) to open. Especially the one at Kampos. Let me just tell you that officials on the Greek Cypriot side are now scrambling to redraw plans from scratch because Kampos wasn’t even included in the preliminary work that was done. And they’re realizing that, in practice, the project will be very difficult.
· Christodoulides and Erciyuman are quite a pair, though. The first one came out and said that the ideas that were adopted are “all ours.” The second one then came out and said that “all the proposals came from the Turkish Cypriot side.” Whose kids are these, woman? The kids are playing around again.
· We’ve also solved the mystery of the President of the Republic’s 19 points. After Olgin and Erhurman stated that they did not have such a list, the President came forward and announced that on Monday he had handed them a copy “so that certain people here at home wouldn’t say the 19 points don’t exist.” But, Mr. President, if you handed over the copy on Monday, weren’t the others right to say they didn’t receive the 19 points?
· Let’s move on to our presidential race for a moment. I told you that the “Alpha” poll would spark a lot of discussion. And so it did. Those involved, however, seem satisfied. Christodoulides because he’s leading in all scenarios, Mavrogiannis because “the poll shows him as President,” and Averof because he sees himself starting the race much higher this time around. The only one complaining is Giorgos Pamporidis, whose prediction—that he would definitely win the election if he received the DISY nomination—is not borne out by the poll. Giorgos, however, has his own polls, which—at least as far as the internal party battle is concerned—are not far off from RAI’s results. Public support for his candidacy from leading DISY figures (Haris Georgiadis, Stella Kyriakidou, Anastasia Anthousi, Michalis Ioannidis) may change the picture somewhat.
· Averof also went to the Public Market to express solidarity with citizens over the high prices that are emptying their pockets. And he pulled out… a green one (like the purple ones Dalia used to talk about on “Para Pente”) to pay for some coffees and a few cherry tomatoes. You can’t play games with a hundred, Averoff. How did such a detail slip past you? Did you lose two or three twenty-euro bills trying to act more down-to-earth?
· Averof, however, owes a response to the very serious allegations made against him by Giorgos Pamporidis regarding the General Health System (GESY). He fought against it—as he said—with passion, even going so far as to label it “communist.” What does Averof have to say about this? Especially now that he has made “Fair Society” his slogan.
· Well, Andreas Mavroyiannis may have celebrated the Alpha poll showing that “it makes him President,” but mark my words: He won’t be AKEL’s chosen candidate, and he himself will reassess his decisions in early summer. Stefanos Stefanou told Kenevezou that he has a certain name in mind, and I can tell you with certainty that it’s not Andreas’. That’s why I’ll repeat last week’s advice: Stefanou… the ball is in your court.
· Since we’ve discussed the “Alpha” poll at length, let me also touch on the paradoxes of the journalism industry. The newspaper “POLITIS” wrote in a political column on page 24: “Who would take seriously a poll that poses questions based not only on fictional candidates but also on combinations of scenarios?… Let’s finally grow up.” The same newspaper, on the same day, on page 11 (which appeared earlier) presented the poll results and even compared them with those recorded by the same firm in 2022 to note that Christodoulides was “in the lead, albeit by a narrower margin.” Let’s finally grow up… and not let ourselves be swept away by petty rivalries.
Have a good Sunday, everyone, and a good new week. Now that the French ship has set sail for GSI, we feel a little more at ease. I don’t know if Makis Keravnos feels the same way, since he’ll soon be called upon to pay the 25 million we owe. Just wait—they’ll probably pass that cost on to us in our electricity bills, too.
