Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07NICOSIA979
2007-12-13 15:41:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Nicosia
Cable title:  

CYPRIOTS OPPOSE KOSOVO UDI, TIGHT-LIPPED ON ESDP

Tags:  PREL PGOV KO SE CY 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO1053
RR RUEHFL RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHROV RUEHSR
DE RUEHNC #0979/01 3471541
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 131541Z DEC 07
FM AMEMBASSY NICOSIA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 8398
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 1031
RUEHVEN/USMISSION USOSCE 0105
RUEHUNV/USMISSION UNVIE VIENNA 0028
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 NICOSIA 000979 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/SCE (JOSHUA BLACK),EUR/SE, EUR/ERA,
EUR/RPM, IO/UNP

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/12/2017
TAGS: PREL PGOV KO SE CY
SUBJECT: CYPRIOTS OPPOSE KOSOVO UDI, TIGHT-LIPPED ON ESDP
MISSION

REF: A. SECSTATE 165486

B. ANKARA 2949

Classified By: Ambassador Ronald Schlicher, Reasons 1.4 (b),(d)

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 NICOSIA 000979

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/SCE (JOSHUA BLACK),EUR/SE, EUR/ERA,
EUR/RPM, IO/UNP

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/12/2017
TAGS: PREL PGOV KO SE CY
SUBJECT: CYPRIOTS OPPOSE KOSOVO UDI, TIGHT-LIPPED ON ESDP
MISSION

REF: A. SECSTATE 165486

B. ANKARA 2949

Classified By: Ambassador Ronald Schlicher, Reasons 1.4 (b),(d)


1. (C) SUMMARY: Cognizant that Kosovo final status
represented the European Union's greatest foreign policy
challenge -- "one we must confront successfully" -- Cyprus
nonetheless could "never" support Pristina's unilateral
declaration of independence (UDI),asserted Foreign Ministry
Political Director Euripides Evriviades on December 12. "Sui
generis" existed only in theory, he argued; a UDI with EU
and/or wider international community blessing created
negative precedent for countries, like Cyprus, fighting
separatism. Rumors the RoC was isolated over Kosovo in
Brussels were untrue, he added, as perhaps a half-dozen
member-states harbored serious misgivings over Pristina's
independence. Despite Cypriot heartburn over an "imposed"
final status solution, Cyprus recognized the need to prevent
inter-ethnic violence in Kosovo and its potential to spur
broader Balkans instability; it therefore intended to take no
steps to exacerbate an already-tenuous situation. Regarding
one such safety valve, the EU's proposed ESDP Rule of Law
mission in Kosovo, Evriviades claimed his government had yet
to determine its final position. Contributing to the
difficulty in casting a "yes" vote were Cypriot questions
over the legal basis for deploying forces, and the RoC's
determination not to allow Turkey veto power over Nicosia's
possible participation in the mission. END SUMMARY.

--------------
Like-Minded Nations Not in Short Supply
--------------


2. (C) In response to Ref A, the Ambassador December 12
called on PolDir (and former Ambassador to the United States)
Euripides Evriviades. He first sought Evriviades's opinion
on the current state of play in Brussels -- was Cyprus
increasingly isolated, as media reports and other Embassy
sources claimed? Evriviades disputed those accounts, noting
that Slovakia, Romania, Greece, and Spain held similar views,
all worried that a Kosovo UDI would destabilize the Balkans

and embolden separatist groups in their countries. Even the
Dutch had gotten cold feet, although their problems were more
procedural than substantive. No issue in his memory had
convulsed the EU more than Kosovo final status, Evriviades
asserted. It represented Brussels's paramount foreign policy
challenge, and member states unanimously believed that
somehow, "Europe must get it right."


3. (C) The Ambassador expressed puzzlement why Cyprus would
posit a comparison between its own situation and Kosovo when
nobody else was doing so, and when the international
community clearly was treating Kosovo as sui generis. Cyprus
flatly could not recognize a Kosovo that had obtained
independence without Serbia's blessing, Evriviades responded.
Further, a huge, Kosovo-spawned neuralgia existed in Cyprus.
Any settlement the international community "imposed" in the
Balkans could create precedent for a similar procedure in the
"breakaway Turkish Cypriot pseudostate," Cypriots reasoned.
Personally, Evriviades acknowledged the difference between
northern Cyprus and Kosovo, the latter essentially a UN
protectorate since 1999. Nonetheless, the "sui generis"
argument didn't fly in Nicosia. Why the need to rush in
Kosovo? he wondered aloud. The Cypriot stalemate had lasted
33 years, proof that the Balkans status quo was not as
untenable as many (implying the U.S. and larger EU states)
argued.

--------------
But First, Do No Harm
--------------


4. (C) Responding to the Ambassador's suggestion that Cyprus
exercise great prudence and not endanger the EU's proposed
ESDP Rule of Law mission to Kosovo, Evriviades claimed his
government had yet to formulate its position. The RoC did
not wish to see the situation on the ground worsen due to
Europe's inattention on inactivity, especially since fellow
member-states already had nationals deployed there. Nor did
Cyprus wish to be isolated, one against 26, in Brussels -- "a
political disaster," he and the Ambassador agreed. The
decision on ESDP was legal as much as political, however, and
Cyprus, joined by several other states, had doubts regarding
the bases underpinning the deployment decision.

NICOSIA 00000979 002 OF 002




5. (C) The MFA had "outsourced" analysis of the Kosovo
situation to prominent international law attorneys,
Evriviades noted. Their findings rang clear: on the broader
issue of separating Kosovo from Serbia, the UN Charter did
not allow the Security Council to "dismember" sovereign
states without an opinion from the International Court of
Justice, a process likely to take years. Regarding the ESDP
deployment, the lawyers, in contrast to our Ref A points,
deemed Paragraph 10 of UNSC Resolution 1244 unsuitable, since
that section also declared the inviolability of the Former
Republic of Yugoslavia (and its successor state, Serbia.) A
separate but related concern, Cyprus worried that, even if it
green-lighted the EU mission, Turkey might seek to block it,
absent clear indication from Brussels that Cypriot personnel
would not take part (Ref B). The Foreign Ministry believed
that Berlin-Plus arrangements did not apply to this civilian
mission, Evriviades maintained, but he was certain that
Ankara would protest regardless.

--------------
No Entangling Alliance Here
--------------


6. (C) Evriviades dismissed the Ambassador's concerns over
recent media accounts alleging some sort of Moscow-Nicosia
"axis" on Kosovo, which were fueled in large part by the
comments of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who
visited Cyprus December 9-10 (Septel). On Kosovo, the two
countries' interests for stability and a negotiated
settlement simply matched, he stated. Replying to the
Ambassador's statement that it would be profoundly to
Cyprus's detriment to be perceived as carrying Moscow's water
against the interests of its EU sister states, Evriviades
declared that Cyprus was no Russian "satellite," as
opposition daily "Politis" claimed, and would not do Moscow's
bidding in Brussels. The GoR in fact favored the ESDP
deployment, and had even signaled to the RoC its willingness
to approve a technical amendment to UNSCR 1244 that could
allow it.

--------------
Comment
--------------


7. (C) No amount of Washington or Brussels persuasion will
budge the Cypriots from their "No Recognition of a Kosovo
Unilateral Declaration of Independence" position (according
to a Serbian Embassy contact, RoC President Tassos
Papadopoulos recently told his Serbian counterpart that
Cyprus would not recognize Pristina -- even if Belgrade did!)
They're less dug in over the Rule of Law mission, however,
and we expect that, in the end, they will not seek to block
it; we will strongly push them in this direction. In hopes
of reducing Cypriots' precedent neuralgia and getting Nicosia
to "yes" on ESDP, the Embassy will emphasize Kosovo's
potential to re-ignite Balkan strife and its sui generis
nature in our public outreach and media strategy. In
addition to our local efforts, the Ambassador recommends
placement in local print media of a Kosovo-themed, Department
principal-drafted op-ed.
SCHLICHER