Nicosia, Cyprus. A dispute between Tourism Deputy Minister Costas Koumis and permanent secretary Neophytos Papadopoulos, which led to Papadopoulos being placed on leave and is set to be examined in court, reportedly began after a March drone strike in Cyprus. Reports on Wednesday said the two disagreed over whether the incident had triggered a crisis in the island’s tourism sector.
Dispute over tourism impact
According to the Cyprus News Agency, citing information from the government, the disagreement arose in the aftermath of an Iranian-made drone being fired at Cyprus in March. The drone struck a hangar at the British Akrotiri air force base.
The report said Koumis believed the strike had created a crisis in the tourism sector, while Papadopoulos expressed the opposite view. It added that Koumis had made repeated attempts to find a formula for cooperation, but that their differences were not resolved.
Lawyer’s account
Papadopoulos’ lawyer, Chris Triantafyllides, gave a different account to CNA on Wednesday, saying there had been a disagreement between his client and Koumis over matters of service, resulting in an absence of friendly cooperation between the two sides.
He said the issues concerned the operation of the service and were not corruption cases or other matters of public debate.
Suspension and legal challenge
Triantafyllides said Koumis had recommended to cabinet that an investigating officer be appointed to examine the problems that had arisen and had therefore requested that Papadopoulos be suspended from his duties for three months.
He said Papadopoulos’ objection would be based on the argument that Koumis had no constitutional authority to make such a request because, in his view, the existence of deputy ministers is unconstitutional by its nature.
Triantafyllides said the constitution refers only to the existence of 11 ministries and gives the president the power to appoint ministers, but not deputy ministers.
Tourism bookings
Tourism booking figures across Cyprus fell after the March drone strike. Pasyxe chairman Thanos Michaelides said two weeks ago that booking levels were lower than they should have been.