Mr. Espen Barth Eide Special Adviser of the United Nations Secretary-General on Cyprus United Nations Good Offices Mission

 

November 11, 2014

Mr. Espen Barth Eide

Special Adviser of the United Nations Secretary-General on Cyprus

United Nations Good Offices Mission

Mr. Eide,

We are writing out of concern over your response to the latest provocations by Turkey in Cyprus. It was with great optimism that we greeted the joint statement earlier this year, and then the appointment of a Special Adviser with your level of experience and integrity. We are collectively committed to a reunified Cyprus as envisioned by UN Security Council resolutions, and a process that results in a workable and lasting plan that secures a better future for all Cypriots.

Unfortunately, your reaction to date to Turkey’s violation of the Republic of Cyprus’ territorial waters and Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) leaves us less confident about the efforts to reunify Cyprus than we have been for over a year. While we can appreciate attempts to deescalate tensions via quiet diplomacy, we fear that the extraordinary attempts your team and others are going through to avoid calling Turkey’s actions a provocation and statements that effectively blame the victim – the Republic of Cyprus and Greek-Cypriots in this case – are taking the process backwards.

We will not recite the 40 year history of illegal invasion and occupation, as it is plainly laid out in UN resolutions. Our desire is to get past that tragic history. We do not have details of your quiet diplomacy and have not had the pleasure of meeting with you as of yet, but the actions you are taking and statements you are making during this last crisis come close to sanctioning Turkey’s continued blackmail of Cyprus.

We too favor the resumption of negotiations and envision a reunified Cyprus where Greek and Turkish Cypriots benefit from all that Cyprus has to offer as citizens of the Republic of Cyprus. That vision will never become a reality via the barrel of Turkey’s gun. We hereby request that you delink any discussion about Cyprus’ energy future from the insistence on Turkey removing its ships from Cyprus’ EEZ. We have been asked by several stakeholders in the process to be supportive of initiatives to move Cyprus’ reunification forward. We hope we have an opportunity to be so supportive, but we cannot support anything that results from Turkish military blackmail.

We would be pleased to meet with you and discuss how we can be helpful to your efforts and have an open airing of views on how to reunify Cyprus. We look forward to hearing from you on how you would like to proceed on achieving this goal and can be contacted via Endy Zemenides at (312) 283-8615 or at endy@hellenicleaders.com.

Sincerely,

Endy Zemenides Executive Director Hellenic American Leadership Council Andrew Manatos President National Coordinated Effort of Hellenes Nick Larigakis President American Hellenic Institute George Dovellos President UHAC National Phillip T. Frangos AHEPA Supreme President

Philip Christopher President PSEKA Costas Tsentas President Cyprus Federation of America Savas Tsivicos President Hellenic Federation of New Jersey Kathy Konst Executive Director American Hellenic Council