BRITAIN yesterday categorically denied that its special envoy for Cyprus Lord David Hannay had spoken of two sovereign states on the island during an interview with CNN Turk.
“I have no difficulty to state right away that Lord Hannay did not speak of an independent, sovereign state in the north,” a Foreign Office spokesman in London said.
Hannay’s alleged comment raised hackles after it was reported in the mainland Turkish Daily News (TDN) on Thursday that the British envoy had indicated that the ‘TRNC’ would be “a sovereign state when a solution was reached on the island”.
Hannay was also reported to have said that the Greek Cypriot side should not consider EU membership “a piece of cake’.
“Lord Hannay said lots of things about central and component states as per the UN language but nothing that would suggest an independent sovereign state in the north,” said a British High Commission spokesman.
The government yesterday expressed strong disagreement with some of Hannay’s remarks, but welcomed others. Spokesman Michalis Papapetrou said there was no question of making representations to Britain over the interview.
Papapetrou said Hannay’s reference to a central state and two component states fully met the provisions of UN resolutions and “our objectives”.
He also welcomed the reference to signs of “genuine flexibility” by the Greek Cypriot side and said the government was pleased with Hannay’s expression of disappointment with the Turkish Cypriot side “at various moments in recent weeks.”
However, Papapetrou said that while the government said yes to a new constitution it was not saying yes to a new state.
According to a transcript of the interview sent to TDN ahead of transmission, Hannay told CNN Turk that a new state, quite different from the old one would be created. He said the central state would have “rather limited responsibilities”, a comment which ruffled the government’s feathers.
“The new constitution will replace the existing one and the new constitutional arrangement could be very different to what applied in the past, but we do not agree with the dissolution of the Republic of Cyprus and the creation of a new state,” Papapetrou said.
Creating a new state, he explained, meant that all relevant agreements of 1960 would be abolished.
Commenting on Hannay’s statement about “limited responsibilities of the central government”, Papapetrou said: “It is necessary that these responsibilities are such that would secure the unity of the state and its proper functioning as a state within the EU.”
Meanwhile direct talks between President Glafcos Clerides and Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash continued yesterday on security issues.
Sources told the Cyprus News Agency (CNA) that the issue of security might be wrapped up at their next meeting.
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.
