CONTINUED CYPRIOT "NO" TO KOSOVO RECOGNITION,

C O N F I D E N T I A L NICOSIA 000490 SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/SCE, EUR/SE E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/30/2018 TAGS: KPKO PREL PGOV CY KO SE SUBJECT: CONTINUED CYPRIOT "NO" TO KOSOVO RECOGNITION, PARTICIPATION IN EULEX REF: A. SECSTATE 69691 ¶B. NICOSIA-EUR/SE-USEU EMAIL OF 6/19 Classified By: Ambassador Ronald L. Schlicher, Reasons 1.4 (b),(d) ¶1. (C) Ambassador on July 1 delivered Ref A points to Cypriot MFA Political Director (P-equivalent) Euripides Evriviades. On recognition of Kosovo, Evriviades repeated a familiar Cypriot refrain: the RoC would "never" recognize Pristina, even if Serbia did. As such, Cyprus would not participate in the European Commission-sponsored Kosovo donors conference on July 11. ¶2. (C) Ambassador next raised a possible Cypriot contribution to the EULEX rule of law mission in Kosovo, since the Cypriot PolDir, in a June 19 office call, had mentioned the possibility of Cyprus deploying a small contingent of troops as long as it could do so without compromising its non-recognition position (Ref B). Evriviades reported there had been no movement toward participation. Apparently, those in the government who thought that the logic of non-recognition meant eschewing a EULEX role had won out over those, including Evriviades, who thought that Cyprus, like some other non-recognizing states, should play some part. He believed the issue of active participation in the EU operation was unlikely to be touched again by the Cypriot government. SCHLICHER