Neofytou challenges Demetriou, says he’d stand beside Christodoulides on Cyprus solution

Politics Cyprus problemdisyNikos ChristodoulidesTop News Neofytou challenges Demetriou, says he’d stand beside Christodoulides on Cyprus solution Averof Annita Disy 1536x864 Relevant News Neofytou challenges Demetriou, says he’d stand beside Christodoulides on Cyprus solution 1 September 2026 Cyprus one medal shy of matching best-ever Mediterranean Games haul 1 September 2026 Cyprus posts EU’s biggest drop in overnight stays in first half of 2026 1 September 2026 newsroom 1 September 2026 FacebookXWhatsAppEmailPrintViber Former DISY leader Averof Neofytou said on Omega’s midday programme that he would stand beside President Christodoulides if a solution to the Cyprus problem emerges, setting aside any prospect of running in the next presidential election himself. His comments came hours after current DISY leader and House President Annita Demetriou said the party would not support Christodoulides in the 2028 presidential election. Speaking to Sigma, Demetriou said Christodoulides could not receive DISY’s support because the party belongs to the opposition and will put forward its own proposal ahead of the presidential election, one that would not be limited to choosing a candidate but would also include a specific political plan for what Cyprus needs. Asked about Demetriou’s remarks, Neofytou responded: “Will DISY’s historic movement, faced with a strategic plan for a Cyprus solution, insist on candidacies, or will it support the person who puts into action the very reason our movement exists?” The comment was widely read as a direct challenge to Demetriou. Neofytou began by saying DISY was founded to be the voice of patriotic realism, stressing that the Cyprus problem remains the party’s primary issue. Demetriou: “Ambitions are legitimate” Demetriou had told Sigma earlier that day that, asked about names already mentioned as possible candidates, including herself, Neofytou and Giorgos Pamborides, she left open the possibility of further candidacies emerging. “There’s nothing wrong with having ambitions, it’s legitimate,” she said, adding that “above all of us is DISY, and above DISY is our homeland.” She explained that specific procedures exist, including around the timing of any candidacy announcement, noting that decisions would be taken in an organised way through the party’s relevant bodies. Demetriou said that when someone is part of a political “team” and “family,” they need to weigh which choice best serves both the party and the principles it represents, as well as the country. She spoke in particular about the role party members would have in choosing the candidate, recalling changes made to DISY’s constitution. “What’s more democratic than letting members decide their candidate?” she asked, adding that the Political Bureau would then have its own role to play. Demetriou also said the party needed a centre-right alliance, calling it DISY’s identity, and adding that this was the political direction the party believes has worked in recent years and remains the direction the country needs. “Guterres came because the two leaders committed to opening four crossings” Addressing UN Secretary-General António Guterres’s visit to Cyprus, Neofytou said: “Mr Guterres came because the two leaders committed to opening four crossings. After a year and a half, they failed to agree even on opening one.” He said it was dramatic for a place that lives daily with occupation to have come to terms with it. “It’s tragic. Every time there’s movement, we feel uneasy, we feel danger,” he said, adding that the political system did not want to disturb the public mood, since it focused on popularity ratings, and argued that the other side also considered the status quo convenient. “The illegal regime will never be recognised” Turning to the Kyrenia tragedy, Neofytou said: “The illegal regime will never be recognised, no matter how many times it offers us help, or the reverse.” He added: “The victims are human souls, and the environment.” Continuing on the Cyprus problem, he recalled that President Christodoulides had said Guterres received a green light from Turkey and that a framework for a Cyprus solution would emerge. “That was a realistic statement he made at the time, and Guterres’s arrival in Cyprus was not accidental,” Neofytou said. He added that “everyone has made peace with the status quo,” and that the political system was afraid to speak the truth. “They go with the flow of the times. They ignore what we lived through in Gaza, Iran and Lebanon, they ignore that a drone fell on the Akrotiri base, shaking the tourism industry,” he said. He said the traditional political forces in Cyprus, AKEL and DISY, which had backed a Cyprus solution, had stopped speaking the same way. “They came to terms with the fact that the Cyprus problem doesn’t sell,” he said. “If there are developments on the Cyprus problem, I’ll be beside President Christodoulides” Asked about a possible candidacy of his own in the coming presidential election, Neofytou said: “I won’t say anything more than what I’ve been saying for years. I have ambitions to see my country united. The country is getting richer and Cypriots are getting poorer. If there are developments on the Cyprus problem and a strategic framework for a solution, I’ve said I’ll be beside President Christodoulides. My final decision will depend on that: deadlock, or a solution.” “It’s everyone’s right to commission polls and leak them” Referring to DISY’s internal discussions, Neofytou questioned whether telling the truth amounted to undermining the party. “It’s everyone’s right to commission polls, leak them, and give their own interpretations. I respect pollsters. But what this country needs is politicians who unite behind policies, not behind personalities,” he said. Speaking about Giorgos Pamborides, Neofytou said he did not believe Pamborides would relegate the Cyprus problem to second place. 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