Greece accused of abandoning Cyprus… again.

Above is DISY MP Lefteris Christoforou speaking on Cypriot TV yesterday and accusing Greece’s Central Bank of turning down Cyprus’ request for a loan of €2bn out of the €50bn Greece has at its disposal to recapitalise its banks. Christoforou says Cyprus effectively gifted Greece €4bn when it agreed to the haircut of Greek debt in late 2011 and implied that Greece should now return the favour and show solidarity with Cyprus, especially since Greece had only used €41bn of the €50bn made available to it for its banks. The sense of Greece, again, abandoning Cyprus to its own fate is strong and has brought up memories of the Turkish invasion of the island in 1974, when Greece told Cyprus that it was ‘too far’ from Greece for it to help.