Government firm on avoiding confrontation
CYPRUS WILL not enter into a feud with Britain over the visit of Foreign Secretary Jack Straw despite the British government’s indifference to the sensitivities of the Greek Cypriot people, President Tassos Papadopoulos said yesterday.
Straw is due in Cyprus next Tuesday and plans to meet Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat on Wednesday in his offices in the north, the cause of the current disagreement with Britain.
Papadopoulos is refusing to see Straw if the British Foreign Secretary meets Talat in his ‘presidential’ office. Britain says it is the office of the Turkish Cypriot leader and that it is not breaking any protocol as such top-level visits have taken place in the past.
After both sides refused to back down, Straw decided it would not be correct to snub Talat after promising to meet him and neither Britain nor the Turkish Cypriot side entertained the suggestion by the government to hold the meeting elsewhere.
“The indifference to the sensitivities of the people of Cyprus and the government on this issue will not lead Cyprus to a confrontation with London which would open up a front with the United Kingdom,” Papadopoulos said yesterday on his departure for Moscow.
“We do not want to elevate the indifference, if you want, to the sensitivities of the people of Cyprus and the government and Britain’s efforts not for recognition but to upgrade the occupation regime, to lead us to a dispute and to create new fronts with the UK.”
The controversy is one of a series between Nicosia and London since the Greek Cypriots rejected the Annan plan in referendum in April 2004. Relations began to mend last summer with an agreement between both governments for a structured dialogue
Asked how this would be affected, Papadopoulos said that initially the purpose of Straw’s visit was to embark on the structured dialogue agreed between Nicosia and London “but other issues were added in the meantime”.
“We want to allow the procedure to have positive results. However, when the climate is being poisoned by such actions, you understand that additional effort is required to bring back relations to the good level we are pursuing”, he said.
He expressed the hope that the British would understand “the legitimacy of our position” and try to restore good bilateral relations.
Straw is still expected to meet his Cypriot counterpart George Iacovou during his visit but some of the political parties, who launched a tirade against Straw and Britain on Thursday, said Iacovou should also refuse to meet Straw.
The backlash continued yesterday with the strongest opposition coming again from the Green Party and socialist EDEK.
The Green Party said the government ought to cancel Straw’s visit, as an official visit cannot go ahead without the consent of the host state. “Neither the official dinner, neither the meetings with heads of parties, neither the meetings with the Foreign Minister can help in the resolution of the Cyprus question when they are combined with the official meeting of Mr Straw with Talat in his ‘ presidential palace’,” said a party statement.
“It is not conceivable that we passively accept the escalated negative and aggressive behaviour of Britain against Cyprus,” said EDEK leader Yiannakis Omirou.
“Britain is trampling on UN Security Council resolutions, which it helped to shape. Therefore the deterioration of relation between Cyprus and Britain is not our fault. It is not an issue of sensitivities. It is an issue of the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Cyprus Republic, which Britain undertook to guarantee with the Treaty of Establishment in 1960.”
Meanwhile, opposition leader Nicos Anastassiades yesterday said that discussions were underway over the possibility of a meeting between him and Straw. The DISY president said he would not be averse to the idea if asked.
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