‘Lebanon crisis an opportunity to promote Cyprus problem’

THE crisis in Lebanon provides overseas Cypriots the opportunity to inform foreigners of the injustice done to them by the Turkish occupation of northern Cyprus, the President of the International Co-ordinating Committee Justice for Cyprus (PSEKA) Philip Christopher claimed yesterday.

“For the first time, American newspapers had ‘Cyprus to the rescue’ in their headlines.

Many people didn’t know where Cyprus was, but having it as a headline, that gave us the opportunity to explain that Cypriots came to rescue because they also suffered in 1974.

We still have Greek Cypriot refugees, the island is still occupied,” he said.

Citing how Cyprus’s importance as a stabilisation factor in the region was made evident by the crisis, Christopher went on to use the evacuee crisis in Lebanon to denounce the proposed Annan plan for Cyprus reunification.

“If the Annan plan had passed, we wouldn’t have been able now to give the assistance we gave [during the crisis in Lebanon], because this Republic would not have been in power. It would have been a completely different situation”, he said.

He also stated that the setting up of UN peacekeeping administration headquarters for Lebanon on the island “gives us a chance to make a case why Cyprus is so valuable and why it can not be dissolved for the sake of something new, or something that may not work”.