Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06NICOSIA87
2006-01-24 15:34:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Nicosia
Cable title:  

AMBASSADOR'S INTRODUCTORY CALL ON INTERIOR

Tags:  PREL PGOV PHUM CY 
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PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHNC #0087/01 0241534
ZNY CCCCC ZZH (CCY ADX849E25 MSI0281-623)
P 241534Z JAN 06
FM AMEMBASSY NICOSIA
TO SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 5433
INFO RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA 4518
RUEHTH/AMEMBASSY ATHENS 3473
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON 1116
RUEHVI/AMEMBASSY VIENNA 0401
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 0447
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS
C O N F I D E N T I A L NICOSIA 000087 

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E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/23/2020
TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM CY
SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR'S INTRODUCTORY CALL ON INTERIOR
MINISTER ANDREAS CHRISTOU


Classified By: Ambassador Ronald L. Schlicher; Reason 1.4 (b) and (d)

C O N F I D E N T I A L NICOSIA 000087

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C O R R E C T E D COPY (ADDING INFO ADDRESSEES)
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E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/23/2020
TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM CY
SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR'S INTRODUCTORY CALL ON INTERIOR
MINISTER ANDREAS CHRISTOU


Classified By: Ambassador Ronald L. Schlicher; Reason 1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (C) Summary: On January 23, Ambassador Schlicher and
Interior Minister Andreas Christou discussed the GOC's slow
pace in implementing the National Action Plan on Trafficking
in Persons, as well as the latest developments on property
issues, the prospects for a reinvigorated Cyprus process and
the outlook for parliamentary elections in May. Christou
expressed hope that the resolution of the Cyprus Airways
dispute would enable his Ministry to re-energize its efforts
on TIP, and he committed to opening the promised victims
shelter in Nicosia by the end of February. Christou
complained to the Ambassador about Cyprus' designation as
both a destination and a transit country. For the "vast
majority" of foreign women employed in nightclubs and
cabarets, Cyprus was their final destination. On property,
Christou maintained that the Ministry did everything it could
be help Turkish Cypriots living in the south gain access to
their property or property of similar value. It was unfair
and unreasonable, however, for Turkish Cypriots occupying
Greek Cypriot homes in the north to also seek control over
their abandoned properties in the south. Christou and the
Ambassador agreed that the growing complexity of property
issues underscored the urgent need for a Cyprus solution.
Christou did not expect anything to happen before the
Parliamentary elections. End Summary.


2. (C) Ambassador Schlicher underscored U.S. interest in
Trafficking in Persons as a high-priority issue and asked the
Interior Minister for an update on efforts to implement the
GOC National Action Plan on Trafficking. Christou maintained
that implementation of the Action Plan was "not so bad," but
neither, he added, was it as advanced as he personally would
like it to be. The Permanent Secretary at the Interior
Ministry, Lazaros Savvides, had been charged with
coordinating the various ministries with responsibility for
different aspects of implementation, but he had also been in
charge of the Cyprus Airways negotiations. Now that the

talks with Cyprus Airways were essentially concluded,
Christou hoped Savvides would be able to devote more time to
trafficking. In particular, Christou wanted the government
to take action to limit the overall number of establishments
-- cabarets, nightclubs, and bars -- employing foreign women
under conditions that left them open to exploitation.
Christou also promised the Ambassador that the planned
victims shelter in Nicosia would be open by the end of
February.


3. (C) Christou further acknowledged the need for new
legislation in tackling the problem of trafficking. This was
a complex issue, but the Parliament was committed to taking
up new draft laws regarding the obligations of cabarets and
nightclubs towards their female employees. Because of the
upcoming elections, however, it was unlikely action on the
new legislation could be completed before October. The
Ambassador asked about the status of the promised public
awareness campaign. Christou noted that there were at least
three ministries involved in this, but stressed that his own
ministry had the lead and undertook to ensure that the GOC
met its commitments with respect to raising awareness.

4. (C) Christou complained to the Ambassador that Cyprus had
been identified in the U.S. TIP report as both a destination
and a transit country. He did not believe that this was
accurate. Cyprus was, he maintained, the final destination
for the "vast majority" of women employed in nightclubs and
cabarets. There were only a few isolated instances of women
transiting Cyprus for employment elsewhere. Cyprus did not
have "camps" such as those in Eastern Europe serving as
way-stations to more lucrative employment in the West.


5. (C) The Ambassador asked Christou for an update on
property issues, particularly with respect to his role as the
"Guardian" of Turkish Cypriot properties in the south.
Christou noted that the GOC had introduced a number of policy
changes intended to improve the overall climate on property.
First, the government had changed its prior policy of
allowing refugees to construct new housing on un-used Turkish
Cypriot land. This land could now only be used for
agricultural purposes. Moreover, the GOC had computerized
the land registry. Cyprus now had one of the most
sophisticated registries and title search systems in Europe.
The Interior Ministry provided considerable assistance,
including financial assistance, to Turkish Cypriots looking
to reclaim unoccupied properties. If a refugee family was
living in the house, however, it was a more complicated
situation. Where possible, the GOC tried to find compromise
solutions to these conflicts by offering the use of a
superior property to either the original owner or the
occupant. The Ministry had, according to Christou, resolved
at least sixty cases in this manner.


6. (C) Christou acknowledged the particular difficulties of
the Arif Mustafa case in which a Turkish Cypriot resident in
the south requested the return of his property and the
refugee family currently inhabiting the house refused to
move. Christou hoped a compromise could be found, but he
stressed that the Mustafa case was quite different from one
in which a Turkish Cypriot living in a Greek Cypriot property
in the north sought access to his property in the south as
well. This was simply unfair. Christou seemed sanguine
about the recent ECHR suit challenging the ROC's Caretaker
Law governing the disposition of Turkish Cypriot property.
This was the Attorney General's problem, he noted, not the
Interior Ministry's. Christou agreed with the Ambassador
that the growing complexity of property issues only
highlighted the need for a comprehensive solution to the
Cyprus problem.


7. (C) The Ambassador noted our continued interest in
reinvigorating negotiations on a Cyprus settlement. We were
looking to the parties for ideas on the way forward. The
United States recognized that AKEL had an important role to
play in this process and we hoped the party was prepared to
exercise constructive leadership. Christou suggested that
the pre-electoral period on the Greek Cypriot side was likely
to be marked by nationalist rhetoric. He cautioned us not to
judge the parties' positions on the Cyprus issue until after
the elections. Since the referenda in April 2004, relations
between the two communities have been characterized by
profound mistrust. Christou lamented the "false picture" the
Greek Cypriot public had of Turkish Cypriots as almost
completely under the control of Ankara. Even on the vital
level of personal contact between the two communities,
momentum was flagging. Previously, entire villages would
organize trips back and forth. This practice had all but
ceased.


8. (C) The Ambassador asked for Christou's take on the May
Parliamentary elections. Would the Cyprus issue figure
prominently in the campaigns, or would domestic issues
dominate? Christou did not see a unifying theme emerging in
the upcoming campaigns. In the end, he expected that both
AKEL and DISY would lose a seat; DIKO would probably pick up
one; EDEK would hold its position; the European Party would
win two seats; the Greens would hold onto one; and both the
United Democrats and Dinos Michalides' ADIK had a reasonable
chance of crossing the threshold.
SCHLICHER