Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08NICOSIA80
2008-02-01 10:33:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Nicosia
Cable title:  

KOSOVO: CYPRIOTS AGREE ON ESDP CONOPS, NOT YET

Tags:  PGOV PREL KO SE CY 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO7058
RR RUEHFL RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHROV RUEHSR
DE RUEHNC #0080 0321033
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 011033Z FEB 08
FM AMEMBASSY NICOSIA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 8540
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 1062
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS
C O N F I D E N T I A L NICOSIA 000080 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/SE, EUR/SCE, EUR/RPM, EUR/ERA, IO/UNP

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/30/2018
TAGS: PGOV PREL KO SE CY
SUBJECT: KOSOVO: CYPRIOTS AGREE ON ESDP CONOPS, NOT YET
THERE ON DEPLOYMENT

REF: A. "USEU TODAY 1/30/08"

B. 07 NICOSIA 979

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

C O N F I D E N T I A L NICOSIA 000080

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/SE, EUR/SCE, EUR/RPM, EUR/ERA, IO/UNP

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/30/2018
TAGS: PGOV PREL KO SE CY
SUBJECT: KOSOVO: CYPRIOTS AGREE ON ESDP CONOPS, NOT YET
THERE ON DEPLOYMENT

REF: A. "USEU TODAY 1/30/08"

B. 07 NICOSIA 979

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


1. (C) SUMMARY: Cypriot Political Director Euripides
Evriaviades claimed victory in seeing the Kosovo ESDP Concept
of Operations document stripped of text "dangerous" to the
Republic of Cyprus, leaving instead acceptable,
"status-neutral" language. Cyprus has not yet agreed to
support the deployment of the EU force, however, citing legal
deficiencies in UNSCR 1244. Bringing the RoC to "yes" on the
ESDP mission looks difficult but not impossible (as
convincing them to recognize Kosovo would be). As to
tactics, we recommend putting our own, more flexible
interpretation of 1244 front-and-center. END SUMMARY.


2. (C) Evriviades summoned the Ambassador January 30 to
demarche on unrelated subjects, but the conversation turned
quickly to Kosovo, since the MFA official only hours before
had returned from the GAERC in Brussels where Balkans matters
figured high. "On the ESDP Concept of Operations, we're
there," he noted. The original ConOps draft had troubled
Cyprus greatly, being full of references that essentially
demanded member-states recogize Kosovo. After hours of hard
give-and-take, the status-neutral text that emerged was
acceptable to Nicosia, Evriviades clarified.


3. (C) Not all of Cyprus's concerns had been met, however;
it remained worried over the legal basis for the ESDP
deployment in Kosovo (a day earlier, Foreign Minister Erato
Marcoullis had announced that UN Security Council Resolution
1244 was insufficient to allow the EU to undertake a rule of
law mission in Kosovo). Evriviades complained that his EU
counterparts were attempting to "cherry-pick" the UNSCR in
drafting the Kosovo Joint Action document; like Marcoullis
earlier, he warned that a partial introduction of 1244 could
set negative precedent for the Cyprus issue. Cypriot legal
sensibilities also were stoked by Ban Ki Moon's attempts to
make international law via personal pronouncement, Evriviades
argued, pointing to the UNSYG having "taken note" of the
December GAERC's findings on Kosovo. Only the UN Security
Council held such powers, Cyprus believed.


4. (C) Evriviades had worked the phones in recent hours,
calling fellow PolDirs from a handful of EU countries in an
attempt to explain Cyprus's ESDP position and win converts to
its arguments. Kosovo was a matter of principle and
precedent for the RoC, he explained; it was willing to fight
hard for both. And regardless of countless declarations from
all sides claiming Kosovo was sui generis, Cyprus continued
to fear that Turkey would attempt to capitalize on the
situation to build support for an upgraded "Turkish Republic
of Northern Cyprus."


5. (C) Cyprus would "never" recognize Kosovo, Evriviades
stated firmly. Yet the Kosovars' "Managed Declaration of
Independence" -- the international community's latest term
d'art, he chuckled -- would soon arrive, and he was certain
that many capitals would recognize Europe's newest "state."
He understood the Secretary did not want to delay the MDI
until March, as Spain and other EU member-states wished.
Putting the declaration off a month would result in more
countries backing it, he wagered. But not the entire EU --
Brussels was far from adopting a consensus position. On the
Balkans the Europeans were divided, he asserted, highlighting
their recent failure to secure an SAA for Serbia at the
January GAERC.


6. (C) COMMENT: On Kosovo recognition, the Greek Cypriots
would willingly tolerate 26-1 isolation in Brussels over fear
of creating negative precedent. This fear, always present,
is especially vivid now, with the prospect of Turkey taking a
seat on the Security Council, and with some Turkish Cypriots
talking about the need to abolish UNSCR 186, a cornerstone of
international recognition of Nicosia as the legitimate
government of the entire island. As to deploying the ESDP
rule-of-law mission in Kosovo, however, we believe they want
to get to "yes." The best approach to erase the RoC's
legalistic red lines would entail emphasizing our own,
broader interpretation of UNSCR 1244, with the demarche
delivered in coordination with our European allies.
SCHLICHER