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Anastasiades, Lillie in ‘honest exchange’ over Cyprus issue

File photo of British High Commissioner Stephen Lillie with President Nicos Anastasiades

Any proposals or ideas on the Cyprus problem should not stray from the framework of the UN Security Council resolutions, President Nicos Anastasiades told UK High Commissioner Stephen Lillie on Wednesday.

According to government spokesman Marios Pelekanos Anastasiades received Lillie in the morning on the latter’s request.

“There was an honest exchange of views on the prospects of resuming the talks,” Pelekanos said.

He added that Anastasiades reiterated his readiness for a joint meeting with the Turkish Cypriot leader in the presence of the UN secretary-general, with the aim of resuming the talks, on the basis of agreed framework.

During the meeting, Pelekanos said, the president also stressed the need to adopt bold and substantive confidence-building measures as have been repeatedly submitted to the Secretary-General, to support the efforts to resume talks.

“For his part, the British High Commissioner reaffirmed Britain’s position for the resumption of talks on the basis of the agreed framework, giving some explanations regarding the initiatives being developed by the British government,” Pelekanos said.

He added that Anastasiades stressed to the British High Commissioner that any proposals or ideas should not go beyond the framework of the UN Security Council resolutions, “with the ultimate goal always being the transformation of the Republic of Cyprus into a functioning and sustainable state, without anachronistic systems and the presence of foreign troops.”

No statements were made by Lillie after the meeting that lasted about an hour. Lillie left at around 10 am.

The British diplomat last week suggested efforts should focus on an agreement on a decentralised federation, which, as he pointed put was also an idea Anastasiades himself had pitched in the past.

Responding to criticism in Cyprus against Britain’s role in the Cyprus problem, Lillie told daily Kathimerini during an interview the UK does not support a two-state solution, while the informal ideas they discussed with the sides fall firmly within the agreed UN framework for a bizonal, bicommunal federation with political equality, “because that’s frankly the only viable way forward.”

He said the idea on a highly decentralised federation deserves further discussion. “It would allow the two communities a high degree of autonomy in terms of their day-to-day affairs, and it would preserve Cyprus as a single, internationally recognised sovereign state,” he said. He argued that this would strike the right balance between the Greek Cypriot need for one Cyprus and continuity of the independent Cyprus established in 1960, and the Turkish Cypriot wish to be in charge of the majority of their own affairs.

Lillie’s statements disgruntled Greek Cypriot opposition but also the Turkish Cypriot leadership, both accusing Britain of meddling in favour of the other side.

 

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