Ambassadors warned over visits to the north

By George Psyllides
THE GOVERNMENT on Saturday told ambassadors to respect the Republic after foreign diplomats attended meetings in the Turkish occupied areas with an official of the breakaway state.
Government spokesman Nicos Christodoulides said ambassadors must respect their host country and the United Nations resolutions that concern it.
His comments were in response to the presence of foreign ambassadors accredited to the Republic of Cyprus, in lunches hosted by Ozdil Nami, ‘foreign minister’ of the internationally unrecognised breakaway state in the north.
“The whole issue will be discussed during a meeting between President Nicos Anastasiades and Foreign Minister Ioannis Kasoulides on Monday, with a view to decide on measures,” Christodoulides told the Cyprus News Agency.
Diplomatic missions in Cyprus will be informed about these measures, he added.
Christodoulides said the government did not object to meetings between representatives of the Turkish Cypriot community and foreign diplomats as part of efforts to help make headway towards a negotiated settlement of the Cyprus problem, provided such encounters do not in any way suggest any kind of recognition or upgrading of illegal institutions in the north.
This month, Nami hosted two lunches attended by ambassadors at a hotel in the north, posting photos of himself and the diplomats on social media.

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.