Concerted political action has reinstated law as the basic pillar in the new effort to reach a solution to the Cyprus problem, Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades has said, pointing out however that legal provisions alone cannot trigger solutions while political decisions that disregard the law cannot offer viable solutions.
Speaking at a ceremony in Athens during which he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the Law School of the University of Athens, the academic institution from which he has graduated, President Anastasiades also said that political leaders must lead and not be driven by populists or by emotional displays by the people.
“A leader who places his personal political cost above the national interest does not deserve to rule,” he added.
Addressing the event, the President said he was moved to return to the place where he had received his legal education and where “the seeds of politics had found fertile soil”.
Studying at the Law School of the National and Kopodistrian University of Athens was a privilege, he said, noting the formative influence of his studies on his personality, as well as his professional and political ascendance.
The President said that after 46 years from his graduation, at this very same room, he was back to receive the highest distinction this academic institution has to offer.
“I accept this as a recognition in my person of the llong struggle of Greek Cypriots for liberty and justice” he noted.
The President went on to talk about the “daring political decision” that was taken by previous Greek and Cypriot governments and which has led in 2004 to the accession of the Republic of Cyprus to the EU. This, he said, has also created a new dynamic and brought in new parameters with regard to a political settlement on the island.
It is clear that concerted political action has reinstated law as the basic pillar in the new effort to reach a solution to the Cyprus problem, the President noted.
He added, however, that legal provisions alone cannot trigger solutions. At the same time though, political decisions that disregard the law, are also unable to offer viable solutions, the President said.
Political leaders must lead and not be driven by populists or by emotional displays of the people, said the President of Cyprus. He noted that a leader who places his personal political cost above the national interest does not deserve to rule.
Awarding the honorary doctorate, Meletios – Athanassios Dimopoulos, the Dean of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, said the decision by the University Senate was taken in order to honor the services by President Anastasiades to the nation as well as to express support to the just cause of the reunification of Cyprus.
Law professor Nikos Alivizatos noted from his part that the distinction comprises also a moral support to the President`s effort for a Cyprus settlement.
Cyprus has been divided since 1974 when Turkey invaded and occupied its northern third. UN-led talks, aiming to reunite the island under a federal roof, resumed last May.
CNA/TNE/AGK/MM/2016
ENDS, CYPRUS NEWS AGENCY