Greece would rather not be Cyprus guarantor

Turkey is struggling to adjust to the twenty-first century and a solution to the Cyprus problem should be one without intervention rights or guarantor powers, Greece’s Foreign Minister Nicos Kotzias said on Friday.

In an interview with Russian newspaper Izvestia during an official visit to Russia, Kotzias said Greece, like Great Britain and Turkey were guarantor powers.

“We do not want to have such rights,” and Greece wants Cyprus to be a “normal UN member state.”

What the Greek government is aiming for, he went on to say, is to find a solution which no longer allows for intervention rights or guarantor powers.

“Turkey appears to be having difficulties in adjusting to the world of the twenty-first century. No one can have another state as a protectorate or under occupation,” Kotzias said.

The minister also thanked Russia for its stance on the Cyprus problem which he described as “a principled stance, based on international law.”

Commenting on the agreement to change the disputed Macedonia, to Republic of North Macedonia, Kotzias called it “a balanced, win-win deal”.

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.