Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06NICOSIA1762
2006-10-13 12:07:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Embassy Nicosia
Cable title:  

GOC RESPONDS PREDICTABLY TO IRFR

Tags:  CY KIRF 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXYZ0000
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHNC #1762 2861207
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 131207Z OCT 06
FM AMEMBASSY NICOSIA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 7035
INFO RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA 4752
RUEHTH/AMEMBASSY ATHENS 3691
RUEHIT/AMCONSUL ISTANBUL 1006
UNCLAS NICOSIA 001762 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

SECSTATE FOR DRF/IRF AND DRL/SEA

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: CY KIRF
SUBJECT: GOC RESPONDS PREDICTABLY TO IRFR


UNCLAS NICOSIA 001762

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

SECSTATE FOR DRF/IRF AND DRL/SEA

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: CY KIRF
SUBJECT: GOC RESPONDS PREDICTABLY TO IRFR



1. (U) In an October 10 meeting at the Foreign Ministry,
Second Secretary/Human Rights Officer Cristiana Tzika
delivered the Republic of Cyprus,s (RoC) official response
to the 2006 Department of State International Religious
Freedom Report (IRFR). Not surprisingly, RoC objections on
IRFR substance related mainly to the "Area Administered by
Turkish Cypriots" section of the report. Tzika noted
instances of church and graveyard desecration that had
occurred there during the reporting period that were
"incorrectly" noted either as "government claims" or
"alleged." She called them "publicly documented and
recognized by the UN." Tzika also mentioned several
instances where harassment by "Turkish Republic of Northern
Cyprus" ("TRNC") officials had prevented enclaved Greek
Cypriots from exercising their right to worship. On the
section titled simply "Cyprus," Tzika raised no objections.


2. (U) Tzika,s main focus, however, was in voicing the
RoC,s opposition to the perceived US elevation of the
"TRNC,s" status. Her objections were two-fold. Firstly,
splitting the IRFR into two parts was inherently "divisive,"
and secondly, the use of words and/or phrases in the report
leant legitimacy to the "TRNC" regime. The RoC objected to
"Areas Administered by the Turkish
Cypriot Authorities," "the north," and "TRNC," for example,
preferring instead "areas not under Government control,"
"Turkish occupied areas," or "occupied territories." Tzika
concluded by repeating the RoC,s belief that our change in
terminology, beginning with the 2005 reporting cycle,
illustrated a not-so-subtle USG policy swing aimed at
"upgrading the pseudo-state."


3. (SBU) COMMENT: Interacting with RoC officials, we
attempt to stay on task, discussing, say, Kosovo final status
or nuclear non-proliferation. Nine times out of ten,
however, we end up arguing the Cyprus Problem, our
interlocutors spewing "pseudo-state," "outlaw regime," and
"occupation power" invectives. It was therefore no surprise
the MFA,s IRFR response focused not on the issue at hand --
whether the island's residents could worship the God of their
choosing -- but on our pick of descriptors that
"legitimized" the "TRNC". With the split-report format our
choice for the foreseeable future, we are likely to be called
on the carpet loudly and often, despite Washington's
oft-stated policy stance against any "creeping recognition"
of the "TRNC." END COMMENT.
SCHLICHER