CYPRUS FOLLOWING EU ON CONDEMNING ARREST AND

UNCLAS NICOSIA 000104 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT FOR NEA/PI, NEA/ELA, EUR/SE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL XF XG KMPI NSC SY EUN CY SUBJECT: CYPRUS FOLLOWING EU ON CONDEMNING ARREST AND ARRAIGNMENT OF SYRIAN DEMOCRACY ACTIVISTS REF: SECSTATE 11025 ¶1. Per reftel, PolOff on February 11 demarched MFA Middle East Desk Officer Dionysis Dionysiou to seek RoC condemnation of the arrest and arraignment of Syrian democracy activists, including Riad Seif. Dionysiou replied that the GoC intended to follow EU consensus on the matter, not opposing the issuance of a new EU Presidency public statement denouncing the activists' detention, but not explicitly supporting it, either. Dionysiou believed it risky for one government to denounce, without full knowledge of the facts, another government's decision to detain its citizens. ¶2. COMMENT: Cypriot efforts to convince Syria to terminate ferry links between Latakia and the "Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus" are continuing, and represent one of the MFA's highest short-term priorities. As such, we don't expect the RoC to issue strong statements against Damascus anytime soon. SCHLICHER