Albright: we can’t give up here

US SECRETARY of State Madeleine Albright believes Cyprus is one of the “difficult” areas of the world, but will press on with efforts to improve ties between Greece, Turkey and Cyprus.

Albright made the comments to the Reuters news agency in an interview to mark her first anniversary as Secretary of State.

“I think that, you know, we can’t give up here,” Albright said. “This is one of he difficult areas of the world. We are obviously concerned about Greek-Turkish manoeuvring in the Aegean and about the lack of a resolution on Cyprus.”

Albright pledged to “keep” US presidential envoy Richard Holbrooke “on the job”.

Referring to the presidential elections on the island next month, Albright said Washington would see whether “that will allow the process… to move forward”.

Meanwhile Holbrooke’s right-hand man, US Cyprus co-ordinator Thomas Miller, has come under fire from the Turkish side for his decision to address a “pro-Greek” dinner in Chicago on February 3, Turkish papers said yesterday.

Reports said ‘TRNC’ Washington representative Ahmet Erdengiz called Miller’s action “a breach of his impartiality” and would be expressing his protest to the US State Department. Miller was in Athens yesterday for a round of talks.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.