May 14, 2004
CYPRUS ISSUE: During yesterday’s session of Parliament a debate was held on the Cyprus question in view of recent statements by Prime Minister Field Marshal Alexandros Papagos emphasizing that the government, not being able to ignore the demand of 400,000 Cypriots, was to take recourse to the United Nations at September’s General Assembly if Britain did not display a more conciliatory policy in the meantime. The Parliament debate began when Mr Pericles Argyropoulos, as chairman of the parliamentary foreign affairs committee, drew attention to the importance of the prime minister’s statement and asked Parliament to express an opinion on this burning national issue. (…) The leader of the Liberal Party, Mr George Papandreou, then took the floor and emphasized that his party had repeatedly proclaimed that the question of Cyprus’s union with Greece was not something desired by only some of the Greek people, but the entire nation. This, he said, was a sacred and implacable demand by all of Hellenism. The Liberals, said Mr Papandreou, gave the government its undivided support in its desire to achieve this noble goal.
