Straw to visit Cyprus

BRITISH Foreign Secretary Jack Straw is due to visit Cyprus but the date has not yet been fixed, the government said yesterday.

Spokesman Kypros Chrysostomides said the date of the visit is being discussed between the Foreign Ministry and the British Foreign Office.

“I just want to confirm the expression of intent on behalf of British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw to visit Cyprus,” Chrysostomides said.

He said that once the programme of his visit was arranged, it would be announced.
Straw is due to visit Turkey this month to discuss the Cyprus issue, which is playing a critical role in Turkey’s EU accession process. Turkish Foreign Ministry sources have been reported as saying that the Cyprus problem would dominate the talks during Straw’s visit to Turkey.

Asked if Straw would meet Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat during his stay on the island, Chrysostomides said: “We have no objection to meetings of officials with representatives of the Turkish Cypriot community but we do not agree with visits to so-called official bureaus or the display of symbols of the secessionist regime, something which is contrary to UN Security Council resolutions.”

A Foreign Office spokesman asked by the Cyprus News Agency to confirm information that Straw or another Foreign Office senior official would visit Cyprus, said: “I cannot confirm that such visits will take place at this time”.

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.