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US supports Cyprus solution based on a BBF, USUN Ambassador-Nominee says

Linda Thomas Greenfield
Linda Thomas-Greenfield

By Apostolis Zoupaniotis, New York

The United States supports a Cypriot-led comprehensive settlement to reunify the island as a bizonal, bicommunal federation (BBF), which would benefit all Cypriots as well as the wider region, USUN Ambassador-Nominee Linda Thomas-Greenfield has said.

She was replying to written questions by Senator Bob Menendez, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.

Asked about the UN Secretary-General’s interest in convening an informal 5+1 meeting this year, she stressed that “the United States supports a Cypriot-led comprehensive settlement to reunify the island as a bizonal, bicommunal federation, which would benefit all Cypriots as well as the wider region.”

“We welcome and stand ready to assist the UN Secretary-General’s efforts to convene an informal 5+1 meeting at the earliest opportunity and facilitate a relaunching of political discussions after years of stagnation,” Thomas-Greenfield noted.

We hope, she added,  “that all involved participants will approach the 5+1 meeting in the spirit of openness, flexibility, and compromise.  The responsibility for finding a solution lies first and foremost with the Cypriots themselves.”

Replying to a question about Turkey’s and the Turkish-Cypriot leader’s violation of UN Security Council Resolutions on Cyprus by moving to reopen Varosha, she stressed that the “United States is deeply concerned by the unilateral decision by Turkish Cypriots, with the support of Turkey, to reopen Varosha and urges a reversal of this decision.”

She noted that the United States stands by the UN Security Council President’s statement unanimously approved in October 2020.

“We see the reopening of Varosha as inconsistent with UN Security Council Resolutions 550 and 789, provocative, and counterproductive to the resumption of settlement talks.  The United States supports efforts to de-escalate tensions in the Eastern Mediterranean and calls for dialogue and respect for international law” she underlined.

She also said she was pleased to see the unanimous mandate renewal of the UN Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (Unficyp) on Friday, January 29, “extending the mission’s important work in preventing a resurgence of fighting between the Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities, supervising ceasefire lines, maintaining a buffer zone, and supporting the good offices of the Secretary-General for six months.”

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