British foreign minister calls off Cyprus visit

British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond will not make it to Cyprus on Tuesday due to the ongoing nuclear talks in Switzerland between Iran and the major powers.
No new visit has been planned, a spokesman at the British High Commission said on Monday.
“The Foreign Secretary had planned to travel to Nicosia but ongoing talks on Iran in Switzerland means his plans have had to change,” the spokesman told the Cyprus Mail.
No new visit has been scheduled, he added, as Hammond would be returning to the UK, which has entered an election period. Britons go to the polls in May
The planned visit was part of a European tour to push Britain’s EU reform agenda. Hammond was due to meet both Cypriot leaders to discuss the Cyprus problem, bilateral relations, developments in the Eastern Mediterranean region and the fight against terrorism.
Political parties were all riled up last week over reports that Hammond would be in Cyprus and meeting Eroglu on April 1, the 60th anniversary of the EOKA uprising against colonial rule.

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.