CYPRUS: AMBASSADOR RICE'S MEETING WITH PERMREP

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 USUN NEW YORK 000436 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/22/2019 TAGS: PREL PGOV ETTC UNSC CY SUBJECT: CYPRUS: AMBASSADOR RICE'S MEETING WITH PERMREP MINAS HADJIMICHAEL REF: USUN 305 Classified By: Ambassador Susan Rice for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (C) SUMMARY. Cyprus Permrep Minas Hadjimichael urged Ambassador Rice to use U.S. leverage with Turkey to get Ankara to give Turkish Cypriot leader Talat negotiating room to reach a Cyprus settlement. Hadjimichael said he also hoped Turkey as UNSC President would agree to move the adoption of the upcoming UNFICYP mandate renewal from June to May in order to avoid having the renewal fall during Turkey's June Council presidency. Ambassador Rice said she understood that Turkey would be important, but Cyprus also needed to give Talat negotiating room by increasing the pace of the negotiations and by moving forward with confidence building measures. She expressed her own confidence that Turkey would handle the issue of the UNFICYP renewal in an appropriate manner, if necessary. Rice thanked Hadjimichael for Cyprus' decision to detain the cargo of the M/V Monchegorsk, and asked him to ensure that the Security Council Sanctions Committee had all of the information it needed in the matter. She also asked for support for the U.S. bid for a seat on the Human Rights Council. END SUMMARY. -------------- Cyprus Negotiations -------------- ¶2. (C) Cyprus Permrep Minas Hadjimichael used the occasion of an introductory call on Ambassador Rice on April 22 to urge her to make use of the "upgraded relations" between the U.S. and Turkey to exert pressure on Ankara on Cyprus negotiations. Hadjimichael said Cyprus believes that President Obama's recent visit to Turkey "lifted relations to another level," and thus we had the leverage to get Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan to give Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat the necessary negotiating room to reach a settlement. In Hadjimichael's view, Turkey is responsible for Talat backtracking from what he described as the "agreed basis for talks, based on previous Security Council resolutions." As an example, he referred to Turkish Cypriot proposals that he described as closer to a "two-state solution" than to a "federation of two states with co-equal status". Cyprus wants the United States to pressure Turkey to stick to the agreed framework, Hadjimichael said, adding that if Erdogan and the army were to give Talat a freer hand, Talat could deliver something by the end of the year. �0A;Despite recent election losses by Talat's political party, Hadjimichael said he was still optimistic that Talat and Cypriot leader Christofias could meet this timeline, but this would only happen "if the two leaders are left alone till the end of the year." ¶3. (C) Ambassador Rice said she understood the significance of Turkey's role in reaching a settlement, but reminded Hadjimichael that the Greek Cypriots also had a role to play in giving Talat negotiating room. Cyprus could be helpful by by keeping up the pace of the negotiations and by implementing confidence-building measures. Rice reassured Hadjimichael that relations between the United States and Turkey would not develop to the detriment of Cyprus. -------------- UNFICYP Rollover -------------- ¶4. (C) Ambassador Hadjimichael said he had understood that the U.K. had suggested advancing the date for the adoption of the next rollover of the UN Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) from June 15 to the last week of May, in order to avoid having it fall during Turkey's Security Council presidency. He said he hoped Turkish Permrep Baki Ilkin would agree with the suggestion to advance the date of the adoption, since Cyprus wanted to avoid any tussle with Turkey that could affect the ongoing negotiations. Ambassador Rice said that she was confident that Ambassador Ilkin would handle the adoption judiciously, if he were presiding, and that she did not foresee any problems. -------------- Monchegorsk -------------- ¶5. (C) Ambassador Rice thanked Hadjimichael for Cyprus' decision to offload the cargo from the M/V Monchegorsk (reftel). She said she thought the Security Council Sanctions Committee was still waiting for information from Cyprus related related to cargo belonging to Defense Industries Organization (DIO). Hadjimichael said that detaining and offloading the cargo had been a difficult move for Cyprus to take. He professed not to know anything about additional USUN NEW Y 00000436 002 OF 002 information required by the committee, except that there had been some question about seals on some of the cargo. He told Ambassador Rice that he had informed the committee that Cyprus had not found the seals in question, and she recommended he make sure that the committee had all it needed. -------------- Human Rights Committee -------------- ¶6. (C) Ambassador Rice asked for Cyprus' support for the U.S. candidacy for the Human Rights Committee elections to be held on May 12. Ambassador Hadjimichael said he had recommended that Nicosia support the United States and he expected Nicosia to agree, though he could not yet confirm one way or the other. Rice