NO CHANGE ON CYPRIOTS' APPROACH TO KOSOVO

C O N F I D E N T I A L NICOSIA 000657 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/SCE, EUR/SE, IO/UNP E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/08/2017 TAGS: PGOV PREL SE KO CY SUBJECT: NO CHANGE ON CYPRIOTS' APPROACH TO KOSOVO REF: A. SECSTATE 109526 ¶B. NICOSIA 496 Classified By: Ambassador Ronald L. Schlicher, Reasons 1.4 (b),(d) ¶1. (SBU) In response to Ref A, PolChief August 8 delivered Kosovo-related points to Constantinos Chrystomides in the Cypriot Foreign Ministry's European Affairs division. Covering a staffing gap and admitting Kosovo and the broader Balkans were not his regular beat, Chrystomides offered only the barest-bones response to our demarche: Cyprus favored a solution acceptable to both ethnic Albanians and Serbs; a UN Security Council Resolution blessing the agreement was a must; and, in the case the talks break down without agreement, Cyprus would not recognize Kosovar Albanians' unilateral declaration of independence. ¶2. (C) COMMENT: "Kosovo" remains a dirty word in Greek Cyprus, synonymous with a Cyprus Problem solution imposed by Western powers solely for their own benefit or in the name of international stability. As proof, newly-named Foreign Minister Erato Marcoullis July 27 warned her countrymen that, should the UN-brokered July 8 Process fall by the wayside, a real danger of a "Kosovo-type" (two-state) solution existed. Unfounded or not, Greek Cypriots fear that independence for Kosovo represents a negative precedent for all sovereign states facing separatist threats. We should expect no support from the RoC for any solution not sanctioned by the Serbs and Russians, and not backed by a UNSCR (Ref B). SCHLICHER