Greek Foreign Minister arrives today

GREEK Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyianni arrives on the island today on a four-day working visit. She will have meetings with President Demetris Christofias, House President Marios Garoyian and Foreign Minister Marcos Kyprianou

She will also have meetings with former presidents Tassos Papadopoulos, Glafcos Clerides and George Vassiliou, and meet leaders or representatives of political parties.

It will be Bakoyianni’s first visit since the election of Christofias and is aimed at sending a “strong message of support” for the new President’s efforts to resolve the Cyprus issue, Greek Foreign Ministry spokesman George Koumoutsakos said yesterday.

Asked about guarantor rights over the island in the event of a settlement, which is one of the issues up for discussion, Koumoutsakos said: “Greece considers the question of guarantees or right of intervention is something that is long gone and is a practice that is foreign within the European framework.” Greece, Turkey and Britain are guarantors of Cyprus under the 1960 agreements.

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.