Eide says his comments were ‘misrepresented’

By Jean Christou

UN Special Adviser Espen Barth Eide on Wednesday night said he felt he had been misrepresented on two crucial points during an interview he gave to the Cyprus News Agency that was published earlier in the day, which caused some controversy.

Eide made two comments that angered the Greek Cypriot side. One in which he said exclusive economic zones (EEZ) were not sovereign, and appeared to play down the seismic surveys carried out by Turkey in the island’s EEZ.

His second controversial comment in defining the Cyprus problem said: “It’s essentially contested what is the Cyprus problem. Is it a hijack state, or part of the country is occupied?”

In a written statement, government spokesman Nicos Christodoulides said the Republic had already made “very strict demarches”, saying Eide’s comments were “unacceptable”.

Later, a statement issued on his behalf, said Eide wished to make clarifications on both points.

“ The SASG [Special Adviser of the Secretary-General] has never intended to make any kind of judgment about the competing narratives about the roots of the Cyprus problem. He was merely referring to the well-known fact that there is more than one perception about what the core of the issue is, and that while Cypriots may continue to disagree about the past, they should look ahead and aim at agreeing about the future,” it said.

On the issue of the EEZ, it added: “The SASG has repeatedly underlined that the Republic of Cyprus has exactly the same right to declare an Exclusive Economic Zone as any other sovereign state, and that its rights in this regard should be fully respected by other states. A passage in the interview could leave the impression that he relativizes this basic right, established in the United Nations Law of the Sea Convention, which is obviously not the case and which was never his intention.”