Cassoulides warns against ‘one-sided’ domestic reaction to Balkan war

FOREIGN Minister Yiannakis Cassoulides has said that Cyprus could not make distinctions on who was suffering in the Nato bombing of Yugoslavia.

Speaking on his return from Brussels late on Monday night, the foreign minister, in his most hard-hitting statement on the crisis to date, said: “Our sympathy goes out to all who suffer, and human rights are universal.”

“Unfortunately, though, we are inclined in Cyprus to see only one side of the tragedy,” he added, referring to the overwhelming popular support for the Serbs, which has sparked some criticism in the international community.

“On the one hand, Cyprus has quite rightly not approved of the bombings and calls for their immediate termination, and for political efforts to resolve the problem,” Cassoulides said.

“On the other hand, however, it has supported human rights and the cultural identity of the Kosovars… and their right to autonomy within the borders of Yugoslavia and the inviolability of borders and the territorial integrity of Yugoslavia.”

But he stressed that Cyprus also had a duty to present the other side of the truth, as personified by the 700,000 Albanian refugees who have fled brutal Serbian reprisals in Kosovo.

“This does not stop us from condemning the bombings and from feeling sympathy for the victims among the Serbs,” the Minister said. “But we cannot make distinctions according to who is suffering.”

Cassoulides said Cyprus would like to see a more active involvement of the UN Security Council in the crisis.

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