Charalambos Charalambous announced his resignation from the position of Director of the Office of the President of the Cyprus Republic Nikos Christodoulidis. Specifically, in a Facebook post, he states that “in recent days, a targeted effort has been underway to personally harm the President of the Republic, to challenge the Government and to damage the image of our homeland.”
“I will not, under any circumstances, accept even the slightest shadow being cast on my integrity, nor on my sincere intention to serve my country. Much more so, I will not allow my presence in the Government to be turned into a tool of exploitation aimed at harming the Cyprus Republic or the President of the Republic. For this reason, I submitted my resignation from the position of Director of the Office of the President of the Republic,” he characteristically states in his post.
It is recalled that from the moment the controversial video was made public, opposition parties were demanding his immediate removal from the Presidential Palace, while DIKO had also called for his resignation.
Cyprus: Full statement by Charalambos Charalambous
From the first moment, I believed in and sided with President of the Republic Nikos Christodoulidis, in our common effort to upgrade our homeland and strengthen, with planning and seriousness, all the power factors of the Cyprus Republic. I was never a person of political ambitions, nor did I seek state or other office. My participation in the Government was not an end in itself, but a conscious choice of service, as a contribution to an ambitious governance program aimed at empowering our country, strengthening institutions and advancing our society.
In recent days, a targeted effort has been underway to personally harm the President of the Republic, to challenge the Government and to damage the image of our homeland. My own participation, through deliberate distortions, selective excerpts and references in a different context, guided to misleading conclusions, is being exploited, without intention of a sober reading of the actual facts, as they will be extracted from the established procedures, in a way that undermines not only persons, but also the very trust with which we must protect institutions. That is why yesterday I gave testimony, stating the truth, which I always served, and the real context of my fragmentarily presented references.
I will not, under any circumstances, accept even the slightest shadow being cast on my integrity, nor on my sincere intention to serve my country. Much more so, I will not allow my presence in the Government to be turned into a tool of exploitation aimed at harming the Cyprus Republic or the President of the Republic. For this reason, I submitted my resignation from the position of Director of the Office of the President of the Republic.
For me, the primary duty is the protection of the country, the Government and the President of the Republic. At a time when our homeland needs stability, credibility and clear political discourse, I choose for transparency purposes to resign, so that my presence does not continue to be instrumentalized at the expense of our national aspirations and collective effort.
All institutions of the Republic must act to restore the truth, which will demonstrate the malice of the orchestrators of this attack.
Personally, I leave with a sense of pride for what has been achieved in the last three years, as a result of hard, intensive and systematic work by the President and the Government. I deeply believe that this course will continue, that our country will remain steadfastly committed to its principles, will strengthen its position internationally and will progress for the benefit of citizens and our national goals. And this is the essential thing for me, Cyprus above everyone and above everything.
