Spokesman plays down claims of friction with US

THE GOVERNMENT yesterday denied that the US administration had filed a complaint about any negative treatment of US ambassador Michael Klosson during the visit of three American congressmen to the north, acting spokesman Marios Karoyan said yesterday.

Karoyan was commenting on reports in Phileleftheros that Washington had complained to Nicosia over the alleged animosity towards Klosson when the three congressmen entered the north through occupied Tymbou airport.

Reports at the time had suggested Klosson had himself visited the airport to meet the three American politicians but it later emerged that he hadn’t. He had, however, met them at the US embassy office in north Nicosia.

Karoyan said that although nothing official was handed over by the US, there had been some comment on the issue during regular contacts with the Foreign Ministry.
”Simply in the framework of regular contacts with the Foreign Ministry it was said that the way Ambassador Klosson had been treated and the personal criticism levelled against him by political parties and the media for his visit to the occupied Tymbou airport were unfair,” said Karoyan.

He said the Foreign Ministry had explained the position of the Cyprus government as regards the use and status of Tymbou, which is out of bounds to international air traffic since 1974.

“The government explained that the presence of the American ambassador during the visit of the congressmen created feelings of indignation and concern among the Cypriot people,” Karoyan added.

He said the Cypriot people felt offended at what had happened during the congressmen’s visit.

The US embassy in Nicosia refused to comment yesterday.

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.