UK Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt believes the Cyprus issue is “not insoluble” and that a federal solution would be better for all Cypriots than the “unacceptable” status quo.
Addressing a ‘Conservative Friends of Cyprus’ fringe event at the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham, Hunt said that the UK has “a very big responsibility as a country with amazing historic links with Cyprus to do everything we can to facilitate a solution to this long-standing issue, which ultimately is not insoluble.”
He added: “We have to go with optimism and determination and say that the status quo is not acceptable” and that there is a political solution. “There is a federal structure that will be a better solution for all people living in Cyprus.”
Hunt did acknowledge that there is always the difficult challenge to navigate between the interests of Cyprus and the national interests of some countries involved. “We need to find ground to navigate through, and we can find it.”
Referring to Brexit, the Foreign Secretary underlined that specific discussions are underway with Cyprus in order to have the status quo surrounding the SBAs continued, so that the everyday life of people crossing daily between the British base’s areas and the Republic of Cyprus is not affected.
He recognised that Brexit causes concern to those with family links to continental Europe, like the UK Cypriots, but stressed that the UK Government has made “absolutely clear” that the EU citizens’ rights will be guaranteed in an “unconditional offer” to the EU.
Theresa Villiers MP, President of the Conservative Friends of Cyprus, expressed the hope that settlement talks can be resumed.
She then referred to her long campaign for Cyprus, mentioning her more recent intervention in the House of Commons about how “inappropriate” it is to have third country guarantees. “They belong to the colonial past, not to a modern democracy under rule of law.”
Cyprus High Commissioner to the UK Euripides Evriviades thanked the Conservative MPs for their “all-weather” support. He then said that the Cyprus issue is an existential issue for Cypriots.
“We have to get it right based on democracy and the rule of law. We ask for nothing more or less than what is given to other law-abiding people, and all other countries in the EU. Cyprus must not continue to be an anomaly,” said Evriviades.
He stressed the “umbilical” relationship between the two countries: “Brexit or no Brexit” this relationship will continue, with Cyprus “a predictable security producer, partner and enabler.”
The Chairman of the Conservative Friends of Cyprus Jason Charalambous also spoke of the 2,000-year long relations between Cyprus and the UK, stressing that “many Cypriots play active roles in public life in the UK.”
Charalambous said that for global Britain after Brexit it will be important “to think first of countries with which it has historic ties and historic obligations.” He added that “there is clear desire for even closer
