Erdogan snubbed after refusing to meet Cypriot envoy

By George Psyllides

TURKISH President Tayyip Erdogan was snubbed by 17 EU ambassadors accredited to Kuwait during a reception there on Tuesday, after he asked their Cypriot counterpart to leave the event, a foreign ministry official said on Thursday.
Permanent secretary Alexandros Zenon said the incident took place at a reception to honour Erdogan who was on a visit Kuwait.
It is customary in such events to invite the ambassadors of all countries, Zenon said.

“I am under the impression due to excessive zeal and not because of official policy,” the Kuwaiti officials asked Cyprus’ ambassador Panayiotis Kyriacou to leave the reception because Erdogan did not want to shake hands with or meet him, Zenon said.
Kyriacou consulted Zenon who told him to stay put. Zenon spoke to the Kuwaiti ambassador in Nicosia “who was very co-operative and expressed surprise and regret”.
In the meantime Kyriacou had spoken to his EU colleagues and the French and Greek ambassadors said they would leave if officials insisted Kyriacou should leave.
All the EU ambassadors stayed at the reception but refused to greet Erdogan.
“They snubbed him apparently in show of support and solidarity to their Cypriot colleague,” Zenon said.
Phileleftheros reported that this annoyed Erdogan who cut his visit short.

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.