AKEL Communist Party’s Andros Kyprianou

By Janet McMahon

Most people, if asked to say the first thing that comes to mind when they hear “Cyprus,” would not respond, “Communist Party.” Yet that is the country’s oldest—and, for many years, only—political party. Similarly, if asked to visualize a leading Communist official, few Americans would conjure up the image of Andros Kyprianou, head of the international relations department of Cyprus’ AKEL Communist Party. In fact, however, he represents the new generation of leadership of a unique, and undeniably mainstream, Cypriot version of a worldwide movement that has since expired in many other parts of the world.

With its founding in 1926, the Communist Party became the only political party on Cyprus, then under British colonial rule. Five years later, an anti-British demonstration, which resulted in a fatality, led to the outlawing of the party, which then went underground for 10 years. In 1941 a second party, the Progressive Party of the Working Class, was formed and, in 1943, the two parties united under AKEL, Kyprianou said. In 1996 AKEL won 33 percent of the parliamentary vote and 34 percent of municipal elections, making it the second largest party behind the ruling coalition. Indeed, Kyprianou told the Washington Report, a recent Gallup poll showed the party to be number one in popular support. “The public is disappointed in the president and the Democratic Rally,” he said, “especially with their failure to solve the Cyprus problem.”

In the campaign leading up to the February 1998 presidential elections, Kyprianou noted, President Glafcos Clerides promised a serious effort to promote a solution and, two days before the election, the U.S. promised as well to exert influence on Turkey. Since Clerides’ re-election, however, the situation has, in fact, worsened, according to Kyprianou. “The issue of the [deployment of Russian surface-to-air] missiles escalated [Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf] Denktash’s intransigence,” he said, “and now he has rejected the proposal for a bizonal, bicommunal federation.”

The AKEL official also described the domestic situation as “deteriorating rapidly,” citing corruption charges against the minister of interior made by an MP from the minister’s own party, and scandal in the church as well. Kyprianou said his party has “a negligible effect on the current government.” Although President Clerides “has invited the Communist Party to discuss the issues and cooperate on the Cyprus problem,” he explained, “in the end he decides himself, and doesn’t ask our opinion.” For example, Kyprianou said, the president didn’t consult other parties before signing the missile contract with Russia.

As do all Cypriot parties, AKEL supports the formula of a bizonal, bicommunal federation, whereby two separate provinces would exist along with a strong central government which would promulgate a single foreign policy reflecting a unified international identity.

The party initially opposed EU membership for Cyprus, Kyprianou said, “for economic, political and cultural reasons. After in-depth discussions at the local branches, then at the central committee, however, at its 1995 congress the party voted to change its position by a vote of 65 percent to 27 percent, with 8 percent abstaining.

“We decided to be in favor of EU membership, knowing very well the negative effect it will have on the economy and social issues,” Kyprianou continued, “because we believe the process, if properly utilized, can result in a solution of the Cyprus problem and alleviate our insecurities.’

Party support is not unconditional, however. EU membership must, first of all, “solve the Cyprus problem. If Denktash and Clerides are still intransigent,” Kyprianou said, “then the EU decision [to admit Cyprus] should refer to the entirety of Cyprus, or it will mean the ‘Eurodivision’” of the island. The party also insists that any agreement must include provisions to “safeguard the basic benefits of the working people of Cyprus.”

Although one might expect the Communist Party of a small, divided island to be something of an isolated anachronism, the opposite seems to be the case. Kyprianou explained that, after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the Cypriot party “decided to expand contacts with other parties as well.” AKEL representatives therefore recently attended two days of meetings in London with their Turkish and Greek counterparts, along with other “leftist parties of the three countries involved” in the Cyprus issue.

At home, support has been steadily growing, from 27 percent in 1983, to 30.6 percent in 1991, immediately after the demise of the U.S.S.R., to the 1996 level of 33 percent. Kyprianou attributes this increase to the fact that his party “has never been dogmatic, and has always worked at the national level, although we also had close contacts and cooperation with the Soviet Union.” Moreover, he said, Cypriots “believe AKEL is working on behalf of the working people.”

Additionally, in 1988 the party underwent a change in leadership, Kyprianou said, in favor of a younger generation. The general secretary is now 52, he said, and most of the party leaders are between 45 and 55 years old. He, himself, is the youngest, Kyprianou confessed.

In 1996 the Cypriot Communist official visited the United States as part of the USIA-sponsored International Visitors Program. In addition to attending the Republican and Democratic national conventions in San Diego and Chicago, he visited Washington, DC, Cincinnati, and Portland, OR.

Asked his impressions, Kyprianou said he found Americans on the street more friendly that he had expected. He wasn’t quite so taken with U.S. politicians, however, describing many of them as “arrogant.” “They behave as if they are the leaders of the world,” he said disapprovingly.

Janet McMahon is the managing editor of the Washington Report.