Deputy Energy Minister Nikos Tsafos has dismissed calls from the leftist opposition SYRIZA party to step down over a controversial social media post he made in 2020 while working as an energy consultant. In the post, he had referred to the Turkish Cypriot entity in Turkish-occupied northern Cyprus as the “Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus” (TRNC).
Speaking on state broadcaster ERT on Monday, SYRIZA spokesman Giorgos Karameros demanded that Tsafos apologize and resign. “He must not remain in the cabinet for a single minute,” Karameros said.
In a social media statement later on Monday, Tsafos defended himself, saying he had deleted the post at the time, “acknowledging my serious mistake.”
“I will not allow anyone to question my patriotism and my dedication to the nation and Cyprus,” he added.
Government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis also dismissed the opposition’s calls for the deputy minister to step down. “There is no issue concerning Mr Tsafos. We are covered by his statement,” Marinakis told a press conference on Monday.
Only Turkey, which invaded Cyprus in 1974, leading to the Mediterranean island’s division along ethnic lines, recognizes the TRNC, which was unilaterally declared by Turkish Cypriot leaders in 1983.
The controversy comes just a day after Aristos Doxiadis, deputy minister for research and innovation at the Ministry of Development, resigned 33 hours after joining the government.
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