CYPRUS: PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION CAMPAIGN BEGINS WITH INCUMBENT GLAFKOS CLERIDES SUBMITTING BID TO SEEK RE-ELECTION
Record ID:
347629
CYPRUS: PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION CAMPAIGN BEGINS WITH INCUMBENT GLAFKOS CLERIDES SUBMITTING BID TO SEEK RE-ELECTION
- Title: CYPRUS: PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION CAMPAIGN BEGINS WITH INCUMBENT GLAFKOS CLERIDES SUBMITTING BID TO SEEK RE-ELECTION
- Date: 18th January 2003
- Summary: (U4) NICOSIA, CYPRUS (JANUARY 17, 2003) (REUTERS) 1. MV CYPRUS PRESIDENT GLAFKOS CLERIDES SIGNING HIS PRESIDENTIAL BID AT THE ELECTION CENTRE (3 SHOTS) 0.51 2. (SOUNDBITE) (English) GLAFKOS CLERIDES SAYING (REPORTER'S QUESTION: Why are you running for president) "The reason (to run for presidency] is that I believe that that this is the year when t
- Embargoed: 2nd February 2003 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: NICOSIA, CYPRUS
- Country: Cyprus
- Reuters ID: LVAAR9PC2YNGOKQI57J6MGZ8J359
- Story Text: The presidential election campaign has begun in Cyprus,
with incumbent Glafkos Clerides submitting his bid to seek
re-election for 16-month period to oversee Cyprus' accession
into the European Union and possible re-unification of the
divided island. Two of Clerides' main rivals, opposition
leader Tassos Papadopoulos and former close associate to
Clerides, Alecos Markides, say they see Turkish Cypriot leader
Rauf Denktash as a main obstacle to a peaceful settlement in
Cyprus.
Years before Glafcos Clerides became president of
Cyprus, it used to be said in opposition circles that the
former barrister was jinxed by a family curse.
His father, so the story goes, cursed him after his own bid
for the presidency failed in 1959. Clerides broke ranks with
his father then to support Archbishop Makarios, the island's
first president.
From outcast to statesman, Clerides's career centred around
the divisions which briefly turned Cyprus into a battleground
of the Mediterranean and the uneasy partition which followed.
Clerides, who possibly wants to go down in history as the
person who solved the Cyprus division, has announced this
month he would seek re-election in next month's presidential
polls.
"The reason (to run for the presidency) is that I believe
that that this is the year when there will be developments
both with regard to the completion of the accession of Cyprus
into EU and also with regard to the solution to the Cyprus
problem," Clerides told Reuters on Friday (January 17).
Clerides was a former gunner and pilot for Britain's Royal
Air Force, and is now the only serving head of state to have
seen military action in World War Two.
He was shot down in 1942 during a bombing raid on Hamburg.
The 83-year-old president entered politics early in life. He
honed his skills as a London trained barrister by defending
Greek Cypriot guerrillas fighting British colonial rule. But
his real love was politics.
Until 1974, he had held every key post in government save
that of president. He was speaker of parliament and acting
president for six months after the Turkish invasion of July
1974. He quit on Makarios's return to Cyprus in December of
that year amid criticism that he had overstepped his
authority.
Widely credited with moving the island to the brink of EU
membership and forging closer ties with Greece, Clerides
advocates reunifying Cyprus in a federation with a central
government with two distinct regions, one Greek and the other
Turkish.
His meetings with Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash have
resumed this week after several months break allegedly caused
by Denktash's illness. The two leaders were to meet later on
Friday.
Communist-backed Akel candidate Tassos Papadopoulos, the
centre-right Democratic party leader, is currently leading the
field, according to opinion polls, with Clerides trailing a
close second.
Papadopoulos was branded in the media as a hardliner on the
Cyprus issue which he denied on Friday saying that his views
toward the solution are not very much different from ones of
Clerides.
He, however, sees Denktash, Clerides' counterpart in
talks, as a major obstacle in reaching a peaceful settlement
in Cyprus.
"It's the transience of Mr Denktash and indecision of
Ankara to proceed with all speed in effecting the solution, to
negotiate substantively Annan's (U.N. Secretary General Kofi
Annan) plan to make this plan functional and not too lead to
any new adventures in Cyprus."
Papadopoulos is saying publicly that he does not see any
danger if the deal is not reached by U.N. deadline of 28th of
February.
"We hope that negotiations will be concluded in time
although practically it seems impossible to negotiate all the
many pages or several points that Mr. Denktash has raised, and
our side has raised by 28th of February. To my mind there is
nothing ominous if the plan is not signed by February 28."
The other main challenger is Clerides' most trusted aide,
Attorney General Alecos Markides, who also entered the race
late as an independent and who trails third in the polls.
Markides's unexpected decision to stand as an independent
candidate also puts in doubt his commitment to helping
Clerides meet the U.N. deadline, though he made clear last
week he would continue to take part in the negotiations during
the election campaign.
In an interview he has also pointed to Denktash being the
major problem in reaching the deal by 28th of February.
"With him there will be no solution to the Cyprus problem.
After all he said that even if the so-called Parliament asks
him to sign the outcome of the plan as it is today he said
even if the Turkish Cypriots express such a will by plebiscite
which he is going to organise, he said that in that case he is
going to resign and somebody else will come in. That would
create a hopeful situation but I do not think that Denktash
will complete his manoeuvres prior to the 28th of February."
A presidential election campaign, launched amid fierce
infighting among Greek Cypriot politicians, threatens the U.N.
timetable. A plan to suspend the February 16 poll has fallen
through because of objections by Akel, the powerful Cyprus
communist party, which has been in opposition for the past
decade. With three strong candidates, the election will almost
certainly go to a run-off poll on February 23, leaving little
space for a new government to close a deal.
According to the revised version of the settlement plan,
90,000 Greek Cypriots would be able to return to their homes
in the north - about half the number who fled in 1974 when
Turkish troops invaded northern Cyprus in response to a coup
aimed at union with Greece. The number of settlers from
mainland Turkey permitted to remain in Cyprus would be reduced
to around 50,000 from the 115,000 currently living in the
north.
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