By Anthony O. Miller
THE BRITISH High Commission yesterday denied that High Commissioner Edward Clay had snubbed the Republic by not attending last Friday’s Independence Day ceremonies.
High Commission Spokesman Jonathan Allen also said there was no tilt toward the Turkish or Turkish Cypriot side implied in the presence of Turkish Cypriots at a weekend party at the British base at Dhekelia.
But the controversy refused to die yesterday in political circles over the perceived snub in Clay’s no-show at the annual military parade and at the reception hosted by President Glafcos Clerides later on Friday.
The flap was further fuelled by claims by MP Marios Matsakis that he had been denied access to the Dhekelia Garrison during the weekend party there. Matsakis was not available for comment.
“The government would not like to comment on this,” Government Spokesman Michalis Papapetrou said yesterday, but he added that the apparent Independence Day snub had been noticed by the government as well as by the public.
Papapetrou noted that the Queen had sent a congratulatory telegram to Clerides to mark Independence Day. Britain was the colonial power in Cyprus before independence in 1960.
As for hundreds of Turkish Cypriots at Dhekelia, Papapetrou would only say the government was “looking into it”.
Allen said there was “absolutely no snub intended whatsoever, and hopefully none taken” in Clay’s no-show. “This is quite simply long-standing leave plans arranged a long time ago.”
“We informed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with an official note on the ninth of September that the High Commissioner would be on leave (in early October) and Deputy High Commissioner John Buck would be attending” the parade and reception.
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs raised no objection at all. And today Government Spokesman Papapetrou raised no objection at all, so as far as we’re concerned there is no problem,” Allen said. “I have not come across any official indication that anyone is treating this as a snub.”
Allen said Clay chose early October to take leave because “we hope that we’re going to be very busy this autumn, either on or off the island” with talks on a Cyprus settlement that the international community is striving to convene.
House President Spyros Kyprianou said of Clay’s no-show that: “I have the impression that the ‘British factor’ to some extent has decided to take the lead to exercise some pressure” on the Republic. “This is how I interpret certain phenomena.”
“It was not a chance happening that the British High Commissioner for the first time ever was on leave on the October 1 Independence Day,” Kyprianou said.
Akel chief Demetris Christofias termed Britain’s attitude in Clay’s no-show as “hostile and unacceptable”. He said the government should demand an official pledge from Britain that it recognises the Republic of Cyprus as the island’s sole legitimate government.
Edek leader Dr Vassos Lyssarides called Clay’s no-show “unacceptable and condemnable. There is no excuse for it”.
Meanwhile, SBA Spokesman Rob Need said the Dhekelia weekend affair “was a Cypriot evening hosted by the Turkish Security Force Police — the Turkish Cypriots who work in Dhekelia in the Security Force Police.”
“It’s an annual event,” he said, that has been held for some 25 years.
It was attended by 426 people from both sides, Need said — 262 Turkish Cypriots and 124 Greek Cypriots, including wives and guests.
“The Security Force Police is the (SBA) guard service,” Need said. “In Dhekelia there are 94 police — 71 are Turkish Cypriots, 23 are Greek Cypriots. They provide the gate guards, dog patrols, patrols around the Sovereign Base Area. They check passes, they do the pass issuance and returns.”
He said it was a cultural evening with food prepared by the men “while the wives looked on”.
Need noted that the security police at the Episkopi Garrison hold a similar annual event.
