Greeks put Eide on a “Downer”

By Chris Elliott……

They come and they go and now the latest Special Adviser for the UN Secretary-General has been coming to Cyprus to try and encourage the Republic of Cyprus and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus to meet and seek a mutually acceptable settlement of the Cyprus issue.

Sadly it seems as soon as the Greek Cypriot administration feel they are losing the initiative of the game of control they like to play then the sparks start to fly. Mr Espen Barth Eide has said he wants to be the last Special Adviser to come to Cyprus and finally bring the sad chapter of Cyprus to a satisfactory conclusion.

Brave sentiment but we will have to wait and see what happens next.

According to Greeks,  Eide is worse than Downer

The UN Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on Cyprus, Espen Barth Eide’s statements to Greek Cypriot News Agency and Associated Press continues to attract the strong response of the Greek Government.

Greek Foreign Minister Yoannis Kasulidis and Spokesman Nikos Hristodulidis’s made phone calls to  Eide where they used harsh language and comments about Eide’s “outcompeting Downer.”

Greek Cypriot Fileleftheros newspaper wrote that 24 hours after announcing restart of negotiations, Eide “blew up the environment, before negotiations even started, he has created turmoil in the procedure.”

Ertuğ: “We condemn the attacks made on Eide”

Drawing attention to the Greek Cypriot and Greece’s official circles and the Greek press’s making, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Adviser for Cyprus, Espen Barth Eide’s words in an interview with the Greek Cypriot news agency, a subject and attacked and criticized him, Presidential Spokesman Osman Ertug, said : “We consider the attacks and criticisms on this topic as attacks to efforts of restarting the process of negotiations from where it was left and to final analysis itself and condemn them.”

In his written statement Ertuğ wrote: “With the withdrawal of the Greek Cypriot side from the table, at a time when a positive phase was reached on efforts to make negotiations restart after stalled for over 6 months, we can see that Greek Cypriot and Greece’s official circles, and the Greek press are making the UN Secretary-General’s Special Adviser for Cyprus, Espen Barth Eide’s words a subject and made a big noise of it”

Ertuğ noted that it’s not new in Cyprus for UN officials who have taken the goodwill mission to be targeted and attacked and recent history is full of examples of this.

Source: TRNC Public Information Office –

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